The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory
by Captain Gamer
Summary: A young man with no memory arrives at the Romani Ranch. Who is he? Where did he come from? This is what he wants to find out.
1. Amnesiac Arrival

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 1: Amnesiac Arrival**

Tingle the "Fairy" was making maps near his favorite map-making spot, the road leading to Romani Ranch. He found the mooing of the cows helped his map drawing. By now, he must have drawn maps of all areas in Termina, all except those dungeons. Before that fairy boy had left, Tingle asked if he could have the maps of those dungeons. The fairy boy did not seem to care at all, so Tingle got his maps. Tingle now spends his days redrawing the maps of those dungeons, trying to have every square inch in Termina mapped in the name of Tingle the Fairy.

Tingle was rechecking his map of the area he was in, being a nitpicker at such detail.

"What is this thing I see? A tree I did not mark, a big rock, perhaps?"

Tingle floated over to where this oddity resided and it was neither a tree nor a rock. It was a person. This person did not look well, with one hand on the wall and another clutching his head. His steps were short and took a couple of seconds in-between and his breaths seem labored. Maybe if he didn't wear all that chain mail, he could walk easier. He was headed toward the ranch, or did he know that?

From his red balloon, Tingle watched this person shuffle over into the field that took up the front yard of the Romani Ranch, which he confirmed on his map.

"What an odd sir." Tingle said before going back to his map-checking.

-

The hand he had stuck out suddenly lost its leverage, causing him to almost fall on his side. His current condition left him blind and losing energy fast. He had to get help.

He heard the brushing of grass beneath his feet. He smelled it as well and felt the soft thuds. He came to a conclusion he had stepped off of dirt into grass. The sound of cows mooing in the distance was a sign of some sort of civilization.

-

The Ranch enjoyed yet another picture perfect day. The cuccos enjoyed themselves on seeds that were meant to last them the whole day, the cows sat lazily, swinging their tails back and forth, and the little girl that the ranch shared its name with was enjoying some target practice with her bow and some balloons.

Romani aimed the arrow right at the balloon and let it fly. It sailed into the air true and burst the balloon. After a short celebration, she walked over to retrieve the arrow that had fallen to the ground. When she looked up, she saw a figure approaching at a very slow pace.

By the way he was walking he seemed badly hurt. Romani considered calling her sister over to help this person when he suddenly lost balance by tripping over a stone on the ground. He involuntarily dove forward - apparently he did not see it - and landed on his arms. Romani deducted that he needed help now.

-

That cursed stone may very well have caused him to lose his chance of staying alive. He considered loss of hope when a voice filled his ear.

"Are you okay?"

The voice sounded like that of a little girl's. Nine, about. He tried to communicate, but his mouth would not move. In fact, it seemed his entire body was locking up from the head down. He tried lifting himself up in some vain attempt but it was met with failure as he felt his hand slip off the ground and his head and shoulder hit the ground at the same time, drifting him into unconsciousness…

-

_It wasn't every day a lone soldier was singled out and summoned for the purpose of gaining favor. He had a new burden to accept and willingly clamped the metal on to his wrists as a sign of his eternal loyalty…_

-

"Ohh…"

He sat up in a bed. His head was throbbing. He opened his eyes and the brownness of the room filled his sight. He looked to his left and sees a wall. To his right he saw a little girl looking at him.

"You're awake!" The girl yelled happily before running out of the room in what seemed like a giddy joy.

He did not know in the least what was going on. He did not know where he was or who the girl was or why she had left. She had shortly returned with what could only have been a fallen angel on earth. Yet he knew that the older girl was only a regular person with some relation to the little girl. They did look alike, now that he thought of it.

"See? He woke up!" The younger girl said, obviously to the older girl. The person in the bed felt slight discomfort in being watched like an animal and was about to say so when the older girl spoke, breaking an awkward silence.

"Are you okay?"

He did not know if he could even speak, or what he would sound like, as his body felt plagued with fatigue.

"Yes. I am fine." He was amazed at how easily he spoke. Clearly, healthily, with no indication of the aching in the arms he used to keep himself up and his head.

"Are you hurt?"

His head throbbed with an unknown headache and his arms were tired, but he knew the definition of "hurt" meant superficial pain, so he replied, "No."

Without warning the younger girl spoke up. "Are you hungry? We're going to have dinner soon!" Despite the fact this stranger appeared on the ranch only earlier that day and all he has done was answer "yes" and "no" questions, the little girl still invites him to join them. The older girl's silence indicated that they actually expected an answer.

"A little, I guess." He did not feel too well giving such short replies, but he did not know any way to make them longer as they came.

"You would? I've barely set the table for three ever. Frankly, I wouldn't mind if you ate my share of the dinner because," And with this she pointed a thumb at the older girl and whispered, "She's cooking…"

The older girl smiled and nudged the other girl's shoulder with her hand, "I heard that. Now go on and set the table."

"Okay, Romani likes setting the table." The little girl said before walking out of the room and supposedly down a flight of stairs. The older girl that was left in the room pulled up a stool and sat down on it, giving a sigh.

"Her name is Romani?"

The older girl looked up with a start. She apparently didn't expect him to talk without being spoken too. This was all fine, though. "Yes, it is."

"Does your daughter always talk about herself in the third person perspective?"

"Oh! No, no, no. She isn't my daughter. She is my little sister. I am only eighteen… and about the third-person, I don't think it is odd. I used to speak like that when I was her age. It was always 'Cremia this' and 'Cremia that…'"

"… And your name is Cremia?"

"Yes, that is my name. What is your name?"

That was the one question he did not expect to be asked. He met the question with a blank stare followed by staring at the bed sheets covering him while in deep thought. By nervous habit he started to fumble with them until eventually looking back to Cremia.

"I… I don't know…"

Cremia put a hand over her heart, "Oh, dear…! Then… you must have… amnesia!"

His first impulse was to say that what she said wasn't true, but he started to think if he could remember anything that had happened before he woke up in the bed. No events, places, people came to mind, only the ways of life and general knowledge, like what it meant to have amnesia for example.

"I guess you're right…" He said, hanging his head.

Cremia wore a somber look as well. All her life she had heard of the effects of amnesia, but she never knew anybody who had actually suffered from it. The concept terrified her. Amnesia is literally losing anything, anyplace, and anyone you ever knew in your life, even if they still existed and were right in front of you. Amnesia did not care if the memory was an event you are embarrassed about or a person you loved.

"I'm so sorry…"

"Aw, it's okay… as far as I'm concerned. For all I know, I have no important memories." He said with a grin.

Cremia's return smile was a weak one, as it was nice of him to try to lighten the mood, but the whole thing was sad that he needed to do so. The silence that followed was a very awkward one, so they both silently thanked the goddesses when Romani announced she was done setting the table.

-

All Romani did at the table was stare at her plate. By some form repulsion she did not even dare poke at it with available silverware, though made some half-hearted attempts, "Yuck."

Cremia sighed, more embarrassed because they had a guest. "Romani, you are only thinking that because I made it. Look, our guest seems to enjoy it."

She was right. "Their guest" was eating the meal at an accelerated rate. "It's the most delicious thing I've ever tasted!"

"You mustn't have tasted very many things…" Romani said, still staring with only her eyes and nose above the table.

"…At least that I can remember." He said still with an upbeat tone. "I do have no memories past today, you know."

"Really?" Romani piqued, suddenly in her seat like normal, "Don't you remember when you came here?"

He shook his head.

"But I remember that!" without knowing, Romani was poking at her food throughout their conversation, and then was eating without being aware of it. Cremia saw this with a surprised expression. Usually Romani doesn't eat anything she makes, or at least puts up a big fight before doing so.

"Well, I don't. Did I hit my head or anything?"

Romani nodded. "You just came all of a sudden and fell down on your head. It seemed like you were hurt but there were no signs of hurt, or at least that's what sister said."

"Hmmm… I guess I'm not from around here, seeing as how none of you recognize my face or anything."

"How come you don't remember anything?" Romani said by pure child innocent curiosity.

"He has amnesia," Cremia cut into the conversation, and then asked smugly, "So how's your dinner?"

Romani looked down at her half-finished plate and realized that she ate something Cremia made right away, "It's okay… I guess…"

"Ha! So it was in your mind all along! I am an excellent cook!"

"No argument here." the only male voice of the three spoke up.

"You're really nice," Romani ate just a little slower after her realization, but still she ate, then suddenly, "you remind me of Grasshopper."

Cremia looked up from her plate. "The bug?"

"Grasshopper! Don't you remember? He helped me fight the aliens when the moon was really very close?"

There was an awkward silence at the table.

"I guess she has an active imagination…"

"Oh, no. Not all of it," Cremia said matter-of-factly, "There was a boy that Romani called 'Grasshopper' because he wore green clothes. His real name was Link, though. He was a really nice boy… about Romani's age."

"… And I remind Romani of him?"

"I guess. The thing about the moon is also true. For three days we noticed that there were two moons in the sky. One of them was large and came closer and closer and wore a very disturbing expression." Cremia shuddered at the memory.

"Expression?"

"Yes. Like somebody carved a face into it. But it vanished due to the elemental guardians. Romani believes that Link did it, though."

"Grasshopper **did** do it! I saw him falling from the moon when it vanished!"

"…Which leads me to the one thing she said I am skeptical about. These aliens…"

"Aliens?" the young man said with skepticism, "Did they want to steal all your cows or something?"

"Exactly!" Romani yelled, giving the other two a start, "I wanted to stop them and then Grasshopper came and held them off until the sun came up and destroyed the aliens!"

"Did he have a nickname for you?"

"He called me Butterfly! I think it fits!" A remark met with Cremia rolling her eyes, "What's your name anyway?"

"I don't know," He said, tapping his temple, the action indicating why.

"Oh…" Romani looked at her food for a while, poking her fork in a bit, then her face lit up, "you should be called 'Grasshopper,' after the Grasshopper that visited us during those three days!"

"I'm sure," Cremia started, her voice indicating that she thought Romani was nuts, "that he would rather have a person's name rather than be actually named after some small creature."

"I don't know…" The third person spoke, "I kind of like it."

Cremia lowered her head and gave a laughed that said. "You've got to be kidding me."

Romani stood on her chair as if preparing to make the naming official, "So you like the name Grasshopper?"

"I guess I do."

There was a silence as they both looked to Cremia.

"This is a human being, Romani. Not a newborn cucco…" Cremia said, but a smile crept to her lips as she picked at her food, "But I think it's adorable."

With that, the amnesiac that stumbled into Romani Ranch was thereby known under the name "Grasshopper," as Romani confirmed very ceremoniously.

-

"That was a wonderful dinner." Grasshopper said, helping to pile the plates on top of each other.

"Thank you," Cremia said, and then looked to Romani, "You liked it, too. Don't lie."

"I guess…" Romani said in a surrendering tone, then to change the subject, "Where are you going to sleep, Grasshopper?"

"I don't really know. Is there a town nearby where I can get a room and stay?"

"Clock Town?" Cremia thought aloud, then cast a look out a nearby window and saw how dark it was outside, "No! Not this late. Outside the ranch there are monsters that just wait for a traveler to wander by them at night. Besides, Clock Town is very far away. I insist you stay here."

"Okay. I guess I'll sleep down here…"

"What about the room where Grasshopper woke up?" Romani asked.

"But Romani-! That's…"

"Is something wrong?" Grasshopper noticed the tone Cremia put on when that room was mentioned.

"Oh… It's just that… that room was our father's room… before he died of an illness."

"I'm so sorry…" Grasshopper knew better than to do such a thing against a person's wishes, "I guess I will sleep down here, then."

"No," Cremia said, for the first time her tone confident, "You should sleep there. It's about time we did something with that room and stopped living in the past."

-

Grasshopper was given a tour of his new room, which had nothing special, besides homey touches. Eventually, something caught Grasshopper's interest.

"What are these?" Grasshopper referred to a whole row of odd items and garments strewn about the top of a dresser.

"I truly do not know…" Cremia said. There were many thing and objects and shirts and instruments and whatnot.

"You two found all this on me when you found me? Where did I keep it all?"

"In that!" Romani pointed out what looked like handbag.

"This? This doesn't look big at all!"

"That's what we thought until…"

Cremia demonstrated by taking one of the belongings, an odd carrying case that was half the size of the bag, and dropped it in the bag with ease and the object seemed to completely vanish.

"Woah." Grasshopper blurted.

"We'd rather not think about it now. It is almost eight o'clock. We turn in by this time."

"Romani stays up later than most kids in Clock Town!" Romani beamed.

"Yeah, that's because you make a ruckus if you're put to bed before I am." Cremia said and pointed to Romani's room. Romani said good night to her sister and their new friend before going to bed. Cremia then looked to Grasshopper. "Will you be all right?"

Grasshopper looked at Cremia. "I'll manage. I haven't forgotten how to sleep, you know."

Cremia smiled. "Good night…" Then before she closed the door to her room, "Grasshopper."

"Grasshopper…" He said to himself. He liked that name. He wondered what else he was called before he got amnesia. Probably wasn't "Grasshopper."

The mystery of the amnesiac known as Grasshopper only begins to unravel as the sun sets on another day…


	2. Bomber Mishap

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 2: Bomber Mishap**

_A life of dedication and loyalty landed him a position as a high rank in the army. Anybody who opposed this promotion was welcome to challenge him, for the special gift he received assured him victory over all challengers._

-

Grasshopper had another one of those dreams. He counted two so far, and tried remembering them. He did not know if they meant anything, but he wondered if all people had such dreams. Anyway, it was just about morning and Grasshopper did not feel like getting up, so he let his upper body fall backwards into the bed.

-

The first thing Cremia heard when she woke up was the sound of the cuccos with their unique call to the sunrise. Such was the way Cremia was programmed in her mind for living on a farm all her life.

After dressing into her day clothes, she walked to the staircase to start her chores. When she passed the room designated for their special guest, she halted then took a couple of steps back and looked into the narrow opening made by the door not being closed all the way. Either Grasshopper was either sleeping quietly or just awake and lying down. She couldn't be sure, for his head was turned away from her direction. She put it out of her mind and continued downstairs.

-

Cremia started by milking the cows. This was one of those days where everything happened at once. Usually the cuccos lay eggs and cows are ready to milk and the produce (a new project they were working on) was ready to be harvested on all separate days. Rarely, all things came to pass on a single day. This happened to be the day, so Cremia knew she and Romani (and possibly Grasshopper, if he was up for it) had their work cut out for them.

As she milked, she heard the door to the house creak open and footsteps, "Romani?"

"Nope." Came Grasshopper's voice.

Cremia muttered an "Oh." and looked out the barn door out of curiosity. Now that it was daylight she could get a good view of Grasshopper. He stood at about half or less an inch above Cremia in height, five feet eight inches to be exact. He had a very dark brown hair that lighted up in the sunrise and hazel eyes that looked more green than brown. He currently still wore a nighttime tunic, which was a light blue shirt and pale tan pants.

One would normally stop there, but Cremia couldn't help but to scan him a bit more. She leaned out farther to drink up his broad shoulders, flat stomach, and arms and legs slender, yet slightly muscular. Overall, he seemed to have the physique of a knight or soldier of some sort. The fact that he wasn't bad in the looks department face-wise contributed well. She found herself staring, and who could blame her? All her life she had lived on the farm and really was never exposed to young men of her age, for according to Grasshopper, he was eighteen, like her. Cremia thought about how, in addition to the aforementioned, she never really experienced the thrill of love outside family, or dating at the very least, or even earthly pleasures, for her father had been really strict about that. She tried to dispel these thoughts, but they only came in stronger and more vivid, causing her to chew her lip nervously as she looked outside.

A stressed mooing brought Cremia down to Termina. She gasped as she saw the cow she was milking looking back at her. It seemed her thoughts had caused her to milk the cow a bit too hard. She quickly apologized to the cow and wiped her brow with her arm, which proved fruitless due to the fact that her arms was also covered in sweat. She blushed at the fact that she even thought those thoughts that made her skin so hot. She shivered at an illusive pleasure, and then took notice at how Grasshopper seemed so fascinated by the sunrise.

Well of course, Cremia thought to herself. He doesn't remember seeing a sunrise. It must be odd, to be at such an age and to see the world for the first time for all you knew. Cremia could only imagine how beautiful that sunrise seemed to Grasshopper.

"Hey, kiddo." Grasshopper's voice said. Cremia contemplated a pet name for herself, but then leaned to see out the barn door and indeed there was Romani standing right next to Grasshopper. That sneak! How did she manage to get outside without Cremia hearing?

-

Grasshopper was sitting on the grass when Romani approached him.

"How odd that I know what a sunrise is, yet I never remember seeing one. It's beautiful."

Romani just stayed silent, the concept of someone who doesn't remember anything past a day ago was new to her. Romani was known for being kind to strangers, but she seemed to take an instant liking to Grasshopper. Not even she herself knew why.

"What's that?" Romani asked, pointing to an object Grasshopper was holding.

"Oh, this? This was one of those belongings you found on me when you found me," He held up what looked like a miniature piano with many complicated buttons and some sort of framed area the one could tell words were supposed to go, "There were a lot of things you found on me, but this one fascinated me to no end. I think it's some kind of instrument… but what kind?"

Grasshopper pressed one of the buttons on the device and the framed area was filled with the word "ocarina."

"Hmm?" He furrowed his brows at the name of the wind instrument. He then pressed down on one of the buttons and from the instrument came an ocarina sound. Everyone within hearing distance nearly jumped up.

"How'd it do that!" Romani half-yelled, looking at the instrument.

"I… don't know…" Grasshopper pushed more buttons and more ocarina sounds came from it "… but it's amazing!"

He continued playing until his random button pressing generated an oddly familiar melody. It went: Up, left, right; Up, left, right When he played it, the cows from the barn all mooed merrily. Romani recognized that tune.

"How did you know that song?"

"I…" Grasshopper fought to find the word he needed, "I guess I just looked around this place, the ranch and all, and just concentrated on everything it stands for and suddenly this melody popped into my head."

Romani cleared her throat, "It's just that Grasshopper -The other Grasshopper, that is - and Romani used to play that song all the time. He would play on his ocarina and I would sing! It seems that he used it to call his horse, Epona. That's why he dubbed it 'Epona's Song.'"

"Really? Do you sing well?"

"Cremia says I do."

"Well how about a duet?" Grasshopper said, indicating his instrument. Romani seemed to like that idea.

"Oh, yes! Let's!"

With that, they began. Romani sang and Grasshopper played in unison, generating beautiful music.

All the while, Cremia heard and watched this all from the barn with a smile.

-

Later in the morning, Cremia returned to the barn because she heard ocarina sounds coming from that area. She found Grasshopper in there sitting on a crate playing for the cows.

"Grasshopper?"

Without looking at Cremia, being very absorbed in what he was doing, Grasshopper said to her, "I think your cows react well to this song."

Cremia let out a small laugh and pulled up a crate next to Grasshopper, and sat, "I heard you and Romani play that song together. It was really something."

"Yeah, that Romani has a wonderful voice."

"You and Romani sure get along."

"Yeah…" Then Grasshopper said with a smile, "she's the sweetest kid I know."

It took a little bit of thinking for Cremia to realize it was a joke about his amnesia and laughed again. Then she had to ask, "What are you going to do, now? I mean in general."

Grasshopper kept playing as he spoke, "I'm going to pack up and go to that Clock Town you were talking about. Maybe rent a room at the Inn there and use it as a base of operations for my quest to reclaim my memories. I'm going to visit all the regions and towns. I have to be known somewhere."

This took Cremia by surprise. She looked helplessly at Grasshopper as if he were physically slipping through her fingers, "You're… leaving?"

"Is something wrong?" Grasshopper was quickly known for picking up and acknowledging a bad vibe when present. He turned to Cremia, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, it's nothing. I knew you were leaving…" and obvious lie, "… but so soon?" She had to make it seem she didn't expect him to leave in some way, shape, or form, so it was a half lie.

"Well… yes. But something else is bothering you."

Cremia sighed. "I guess it is just the understaffing recently. Until a time ago, a man who took care of the cuccos and a woman who held dog races accompanied Romani and me. Not too long ago they decided to move off the ranch and pursue other careers, though I think my father's death made them worry about the financial status of the ranch. That just leaves us girls to fend for ourselves…"

Grasshopper had nothing to say to that. He just played on in a somber silence. He felt kind of disappointed; for he thought her problem with him leaving was that she liked his company, not his potential to work about the farm.

-

At noon, Cremia was found feeding the cuccos when Romani approached her. She stood behind her sister until Cremia finally noticed her.

"Yes?"

"Sister! It's Sunday! This is one of the days of the week when we visit Clock Town!"

Cremia looked as if she were just slapped in the face, then guilty at what she was about to do, "I'm very sorry, Romani. But today is one of those days were I have to work all day!"

"But I like going to Clock Town!"

"But Romani… I have a schedule to keep… everything could fall apart if…"

"I can do it!"

Both sisters looked to Grasshopper. He was now in day clothes, not much different than night ones. The only difference was that now his shirt was a light green and not as baggy, so an outline of his chest was barely visible. Cremia probably would have started staring again had the situation not have been as such as it was now.

"Could I take Romani to Clock Town? She really wants to go and you really want to stay and I really don't care, so I'll take her!"

It is his last day, Cremia thought then said, "I don't know…" "I don't know" as in he had only arrived at the ranch a day ago and his nice manners may not be enough for her to trust him.

"Oh! Could he? Could he?" Romani said in a pleading voice. Romani barely begged for anything, so Cremia could tell she really wanted this.

"Are you up for it, Grasshopper?"

Grasshopper looked energized, "Yeah!"

Cremia caved in. "Okay, take the wagon. I'm going nowhere."

"Yaaay!" Romani yelled happily and took off for where the wagon was kept.

"I'll take good care of your sister." Grasshopper said with a smile and thumbs up as he followed Romani.

Romani showed Grasshopper how to handle the horses when driving the wagon and he was a fast learner. Faster than any of them thought, they were Clock Town bound.

-

"I never noticed that locket you wear." Grasshopper said to break the silence.

"Oh, this?" Romani looked down at the locket she wore on a necklace.

"Where'd you get it?"

"My sister gave it to me on the third day the moon was really big. She told me she loved me and a whole bunch of other stuff. She made it seem like the world was ending. Grasshopper, the other Grasshopper, made the moon go away that same day."

"So that locket means a lot to you?"

"Yup!"

"That's Clock Town?" Grasshopper indicated a big walled-in town with a big tower in the center.

"That's Clock Town, all right."

-

In Clock Town, Romani gave Grasshopper a brief tour. After this tour, Romani noticed a bunch of kids playing in the grassy area of North Clock Town. She tugged on Grasshopper's tunic.

"Can I play with the other kids?"

"Depends. Does your sister let you play unsupervised?"

Romani remembered how Cremia would sit on a bench and read a book while keeping an eye on Romani when she went to play with the other kids. They often used that to poke fun at Romani for that reason.

"Yeah!" Romani said, keeping a straight, wide-eyed face.

"Okay," Grasshopper started, still occupied in soaking all of Clock Town with his eyes, "I'll meet you here in an hour and we'll go. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Grasshopper turned and entered the southern area of Clock Town.

-

Grasshopper walked all over the town meeting practically everyone in the town. His first encounter was with a rather loud, angry man who still appeared to have a heart of gold.

"I'm the carpenter of the town. Our current project is to build a ramp leading to the Clock Tower so we can go on its roof at the Time Festival. On the last festival, all my men chickened out because the moon had a face on it! Cowards!"

"A lot of people talk about the three days when the moon was odd." Grasshopper said, looking at the construction.

"Bah. I told everyone not to worry about it and look! We're fine! Now I'm just working these bums until they collapse with exhaustion." The carpenter then looked off and cupped his mouth with a hand, looking toward his men, "You lazy bums! Get working, up there!"

"Um, it was nice meeting with you. I hope you build that ramp in time."

Grasshopper left the carpenter howling at his workers as he left to meet with other people. While in the laundry pool, he had a pleasant conversation with the local Inn worker, Anju.

"Your husband was turned into a kid before your wedding day?"

"Indeed," Anju said, looking up at the sky, "an awful Skull Kid did it to him, or so he said. I was about to lose faith in my dear husband when a boy named Link showed me the pendant of memories and things only got happier from there!"

"Wow… and your husband became a man in time for your wedding?"

"Yes! It seems a mask controlled the Skull Kid and the Skull Kid apologized many times for how he wronged us. He made it up to us by playing a song he said he learned from a fairy boy on his flute. The song cured Kafei right there and then! It was the happiest day of our lives!"

"What an amazing story." Grasshopper looked at the big clock tower. He had half an hour left before he picked up Romani, "I'll be going now. I wish you good luck in your marriage!"

"You, too! I hope you get your memory back, um…"

"Grasshopper!"

"Oh, yes! Grass-" Then Anju stared blankly with a confused expression, "Grasshopper?"

-

Grasshopper finished his hour by talking with the lead of local law enforcement. Admiral Viscen. Grasshopper never really could tell if he was a grown man, or maybe just a very stern young man workaholic.

"As you can see, Mister," he cleared his throat as an indication that he though Grasshopper's name odd, "Grasshopper, I work vigilantly to make sure no major crimes occur in Clock Town. But still, crimes go on in secret and in the protective veil of nighttime. I may not stop all crime, but I work to make sure Clock Town is a better place."

"Keeping the peace is an honorable trait. Perhaps I should try something of that nature."

"Well, wherever you come from, son. I'm sure they are without a fine young man to help keep the peace."

"Thank you, Admiral," Grasshopper cast a look to the big clock, "if you'll excuse me, it is about time I left for now. Ah! There's Romani right- wait a minute…"

Grasshopper and Viscen looked to where Romani was and she was sitting on a grass mound crying.

"Something's wrong…" Grasshopper said and walked quickly to where Romani was.

"I'll investigate, as well," Viscen said, "I know for a fact that when a little girl in crying, all is not right."

-

When they got to Romani, Grasshopper knelt down to her, "What's wrong?"

Romani sniffed and said through tears, "O-one of th-those bomber kids g-got away with my locket…"

"Bomber kids?"

"The Bomber gang!" Viscen proclaimed, hitting a fist into the opposite palm, "They came off as the type of kids who spent their days making this town a better place. I had no clue that this was what they were after. They will all hang for this!" Then after a hesitation, "By their feet, of course."

"Is that them?" Grasshopper indicated a group of five kids who were dressed in blue and white with blue hats.

"That's them…" Viscen growled.

"Come on…" Grasshopper took Romani by the hand and picked her off the ground, "I'm getting that locket back."

As they approached, the bombers came less chatty and there were shushing sounds as all the bombers came to face them.

"Hello, Admiral Viscen!" They all said in unison and with too much innocence. By their look, you could swear that they weren't up to anything.

"Enough of that!" Grasshopper said with an accusing finger, "one of you has this girl's locket and we will not leave until it is returned."

There was a silence in which the bombers all got increasingly nervous and sweaty. Eventually one of them yelled, "Bombers, split up!"

As soon as that was said, all the bombers took off in different directions.

"Punks!" Viscen called after them.

Grasshopper knelt down and put his hands on Romani's shoulders, "I will be right back. You stay here."

Romani sniffed and nodded as Grasshopper looked at Viscen. Viscen nodded in acknowledgement of Grasshopper's willingness to help.

-

"Okay, then. I will go to the West side of town and you will go to the East side. Got it?" Viscen said, projected an aura of authority.

"Right." Grasshopper said, but halted, "Hold up a second…"

Grasshopper nodded his head to indicate the nearby slide. Viscen nodded and they both approached the slide. As soon as they did, the bomber kid from behind it jump out and started running. Chase was given until the bomber kid ran into another bomber kid. They both yelped and took off.

"They seem to go to other bomber's hiding places when they are found…" Grasshopper deduced.

"Good. We'll flush them all out and then catch them all at the same time." Viscen said, which was a sound strategy.

-

Viscen wandered West Clock town until he reached the highest point. He saw a bomber kid hiding behind a pole thinner than himself; a comical sight. Viscen tried to grab the kid, but the bomber ducked and ran away.

"Dammit!" Viscen hissed. Unfortunately for him, he did so in front of a group of villagers. His face burned in embarassment as he slowly edged to the exit that the bomber left through.

-

In East Clock Town, Grasshopper saw a bomber holding a cucco.

"Get over here!"

Grasshopper gave chase until the bomber climbed to the highest point of ground, then jumped! The Cucco allowed him to safely land on the roof of the Inn, where another bomber kid appeared to be. Grasshopper wasted no time in running into the Inn. Anju, who was currently tending the front desk, noticed Grasshopper come in.

"Oh, hello agai-"

She was cut off as Grasshopper dashed by her and yelled, "Important emergency talk later hey is that a new necklace you weren't wearing it when I first saw you-" At that time, he had disappeared to the top of the stairs.

Grasshopper emerged on the roof of the Inn, surprising the bombers. Grasshopper lunged for the bombers, but they had leapt off, making Grasshopper lose balance and nearly fall off the roof. Fortunately, he had grabbed onto the ledge so he was able to drop down safely.

-

At the edge of East Clock Town, four of the bombers met up. Unfortunately for them, so did Grasshopper with a rope. He threw the rope around them and tightened the loop. All the bombers tried to get out but failed. Viscen arrived shortly.

"Now, which one of you has the locket?"

All the bombers looked in a direction and yelled, "HIM!"

A fifth and lone bomber yelled out "snitches" and started running.

"Jim, the bomber leader!" Viscen shouted.

It seemed like Jim was about to get away when he was suddenly a rope from the ground tightly wraps around Jim's leg and hoists him into the air.

"Didn't become 'Admiral' without knowing a few hunting tricks." Viscen beamed, then approached the hanging Jim menacingly, "Now then… I'm sure the mayor will give you an earful about this!" and poked the terrified bomber with the wooden end of his spear.

"Wait," Grasshopper cut in, "let him down."

"What why? He's a thief!"

"Just... just do it."

"Very well." Viscen carefully severed the rope and let Jim down. Jim did not look like he was going to run away or anything of that nature. Grasshopper knelt down to talk to Jim easier.

"Okay, first. Give me the locket."

Jim uncomfortably took the locket out of his pocket, looked at it for a bit, then deposited it into Grasshopper's outstretched hand.

"And now... why did you take the locket?"

"Awwww..." Jim moaned, "Do I have to tell?"

"Hey, its either me or mister 'bad guard' over there."

"'Bad guard?'" Viscen echoed.

"Urgh," Jim moaned again in a surrendering tone, "it's... it's my grandma's birthday soon and I don't know if she has much longer to live, so I wanted to make this year's gift special. I thought about a moon's tear, but were in the outs with the astronomer, so we decided on something else. That's when I saw the locket. It was perfect! My grandma loves horses..."

"That still was no excuse to steal, young man." Viscen lectured, more calmly, but still very sternly.

Jim nodded, guilty, "I just wish I could stay on the astronomer's good side!"

Grasshopper thought for a second, then he had an idea. "Well, maybe you could be! What exactly did you guys do to make you think you were on the outs with him?"

-

Back in North Clock Town, Grasshopper, Viscen, and the bombers all came to Romani who looked up at them.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I believe this belongs to you." Grasshopper said, revealing the locket from behind his back.

Romani's face lit up very joyously, "You, you got it back! Oh, Grasshopper you're the best!"

Grasshopper knelt down to put the locket back on her. As soon as he placed it back around her neck, she took this opportunity to say "thank you" and hug him around his while he was kneeling.

"Awwwwww..." The Bombers and Viscen cooed in unison.

Traveling to the observatory, Jim explained everything to the astronomer.

"It's like this... I saw this pot about to fall an' I ran to catch it and another one started falling because of the rumbles on the ground I made and another bomber came to get that one and eventually it got out of hand so bad that we lost balance and all the pots broke. We're really sorry."

The astronomer stroked his chin and thought about Jim's plight, "Well, I suppose I shouldn't be angry. Heck, if it happened to me, I would have the same result! No use crying over spilt milk, I say. Or in this case broken pots."

Grasshopper nudged Jim, then Jim said, "Um, sir? Now that we're on your good side again, is there any chance that I could have that moon's tear and give it to my grandma for her birthday?

After another process of thought, the astronomer said, "Perhaps, if you're willing to work it off."

"Work? In the observatory? awesome!" the bombers all spoke with excitement.

The astronomer smiled, "And after you pay off the moon's tear, we'll talk about salaries for all of you!"

The bombers were giddy with joy. An actual salary! After the hubbub died down, Jim went to Grasshopper. He cleared his throat ceremoniously.

"Mr. Grasshopper, we all want you to have this." Jim handed Grasshopper a purple Rupee, "It's worth fifty rupees, our hidden stash."

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"Because we're being paid now! We don't need any stash! We'll start a bank account right here in Clock Town, right gang?"

"Yeah!" All the bombers said in joyous unison.

-

As Grasshopper, Romani, and Viscen left the observatory, Viscen commented on how much of a different Grasshopper made today.

"Do not be so humble, Grasshopper. If not for you, perhaps this girl would have lost her locket. Jim would not have that moon's tear. The bombers would not have jobs. And possible if not for you, I would have dealt with those kids my old way! From now on, I decide to be the 'good guard' in interrogations!"

"You know," Grasshopper said, a little buzz of joy evident on his face and in his voice, "I believe this is cause for celebration. How about we all go to the Milk Bar?"

"I love the Milk Bar!" Romani said excitedly.

"How about you, Admiral Viscen? My treat!"

"As much as I'd love to take up on your offer and make you regret it," a comment which caused laughter, "I must get back to my duties. No rest for the weary, you know."

"Okay, see you around, Viscen!"

"Goodbye, sir Grasshopper!"

-

In the Milk bar, Grasshopper bought a round of milk for himself and Romani.

"I must say, this milk is very tasty and creamy!" Grasshopper said, savoring every swig.

"Don't you recognize the label?" Romani asked, beaming, "It's 'Chateau Romani', made at the Romani Ranch!"

"Wow," Grasshopper gasped, "I've must ask for some freebies when I leave."

"'Leave?'" Romani wondered when the person on the stage asked for silence.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you wanted to see them on stage again, so here they are, back by popular demand, the Indigo-gos!"

Yet enough, the lights went to the stage and showed the Zoran performers.

Grasshopper asked Romani exactly what the heck were performing for them. She explained how there were not just "normal" people, but Zoras, Gorons and other specie in Termina.

"Aww, I wish Cremia were here! She loves this song!" Romani said over the music.

Grasshopper was only absorbed in the beauty of the music, these musicians really knew what they were doing.

-

At the time Grasshopper and Romani returned, Cremia had finished all the chores for the day. She even did enough so she could take time off tomorrow. She sat down on a crate and lifted her feet.

"My feet are killing me! I don't think I can walk another step..."

At that point she heard the voices of Grasshopper and Romani coming back and got off the crate and ran to meet them.

"Romani! Grasshopper! How was it?"

"I had the best time!" Romani said happily, "Grasshopper is the best!"

"Aw, stop." Grasshopper said and faked embarrassment.

-

While they were home, it didn't take long for the topic of Grasshopper's leaving to arise.

"Why do you heave to leave!" Romani blurted, almost in tears.

"I said I want to know who I am!"

"But, but, you're Grasshopper! You should live with us! Cremia, say something!"

Cremia was silent for a while until she blinked out her tears, looked up, and said, "All I'm saying is that if what he thinks he chooses is right, then he has my support."

Grasshopper was sent into a process of thought about this. On one hand, he could go. He'd be in unfamiliar territory and could get lost and never find his origins, or he could stay and help out Cremia and Romani at the ranch and make a whole new life.

"Well..." Grasshopper said, he had already make up his mind, but he wanted to make it dramatic, "I don't know if it's Cremia's story about understaffing or that I have just plain fallen in love with the ranch. Or maybe the deciding factor was that if my former life was without you guys, what kind of life would that be? I have decided to stay here."

What happened next was so fast. The girls apparently took that very well as there was a bunch of "Yay!" and "That's so wonderful." Romani almost cried and hugged Grasshopper around the waist, which was easily seen she was obviously crazy about him. Cremia watched, obviously holding back the urge to do so herself.

-

After all was said and done, the sun began to set on another day, and Grasshopper was sitting on a high mound watching the sun set as he did when the sun rose. He would not go and see where exactly the sun rose from, but he decided that he liked the life he chose much better.

After a while he heard footsteps. It was Cremia coming to join him in watching the sun set.

"Romani's asleep," Cremia said, a little in need of sleep herself, "said she had a full day today."

"We both did." Grasshopper said in agreement. He started to reflect upon the crazy day in his mind.

For a while they did not talk, just look at the canvas of colors displayed by the sunset. Eventually Cremia broke the silence.

"I'm glad you decided to stay." Her voice emphasized it much.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," then after a hesitation, "I don't think Romani's ready for you to leave, yet."

"Do you think so?"

Cremia looked at him, "Yeah… she's never really been this excited before in a while, I think you may provide a new beginning for this ranch."

"… And how do you react to all this on a personal level?"

"Um…" Cremia's head-wheels turned at a fast pace. I like you just as much as Romani, maybe even more so. I really like your company. You're a breath of fresh air. Looking at you gave me a feeling I've never felt before, and I want to keep feeling it until I understand it. Looking at you makes me want to do things to you. Any of those responses would have worked, save the last two, but Cremia ended up saying, "As long as you are willing to work, it is fine with me."

They both exchanged a laugh, which after concluded Cremia asked something of Grasshopper.

"Could you... play that song again? The one that you and Romani played?"

"Oh, sure," Grasshopper took the instrument from his pocket, "I've called it the Multitask, by the way. It appears to be able to take on the sounds of many other instruments."

"How?"

"I do not know. Magic?"

Grasshopper began to play the song as the harmonious sound filled the ranch and soothed all that heard it. As Grasshopper played with his eyes closed, Cremia just sat and looked at the sunset, allowing the song to take her to times past and dreams of times ahead.

Grasshopper has chosen not to pursue his past, but this may well result in his past chasing him. Only time will tell as the sun set on another day.


	3. The Marauders

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 3: The "Marauders"**

_There was trouble in paradise._

_The highest superior to the servant's master would be a fair ruler, so why does a self-proclaimed, self-righteous hero believe that destroying him would make the world better? Doesn't he realize that under the rule of his master's superior, the world would be much better off?_

_He tried to convince his master to let him take care of the problem personally, but was told to stay, for all holders of the metal had to stay behind, in the case that the "hero" would try to make an assault on the master himself. The servant deemed it highly unlikely, which prompted the master to utter only the words, "Wishful thinking, I'm afraid…"_

-

The morning sun rose and it was indeed a beautiful day. However, Grasshopper did not feel like getting up, so he didn't. Being an amnesiac has more bad aspects than good, but the inability to remember any responsibilities you left behind is a plus.

-

"Do you think you know how to use a bow-and-arrow?"

It was the middle of the day and Grasshopper looked down at Romani who had come from nowhere and asked that question. Cremia was usually reluctant when trying to uncover anything about Grasshopper's past, but Romani just dove right in there. It was either courage or a lack of knowing better.

"Maybe… why?"

"Well, it's just that Cremia is making a delivery of milk to Clock Town today…"

"… And that relates to my ability to use a bow-and-arrow… how?"

Romani looked around to see if her sister was anywhere, and then said, "Whenever sister makes a milk delivery, these 'marauders' come and try to shatter the jars of milk. We know it's the Gorman Brothers who live on the track near us, but my sister says if we say that we know that we're on to them that they could take a more aggressive approach to trying to ruin us."

"Why would they try to ruin you?"

"Cremia says that they think that they are in competition with us for some reason. I don't see where agriculture is a competition. Don't we all compete to supply the world?"

"I should give those Gormans a talking-to."

"Don't go over there! They'll say mean things and lies!" Romani said urgently, and then as if Grasshopper had agreed, she began to go on to other things. She ran over to a crate and took out a deflated balloon that looked like some sort of alien. Romani used an air pump to fill up the balloon and then tied it to the crate and let the balloon float up, being constricted by its string. She had obviously done this many times before. Romani ran back to where Grasshopper was standing. Grasshopper watched on interested as Romani pulled an arrow back and after much concentration let it fly. The arrow ran straight into the balloon, popping it.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Romani gloated before running over to pick up the arrow.

"Yeah. Cool."

"Now you try!" Romani presented her bow to Grasshopper with a great big smile. Grasshopper took and broke a nervous sweat.

"Uh, okay…"

Romani told him to wait as she ran over to the crate and repeated the process and made another balloon target. Grasshopper started pulling the arrow back very uncomfortably, but as he got a feel for it, he felt like the bow was a fifth appendage, guiding his aim to the balloon and letting the arrow fly. The arrow ripped right through the balloon and soared on until it almost hit a wooden cucco ornament. It would have done so it Cremia hadn't been there and caught it expertly.

"Oops! Sorry!" Grasshopper called out, "Are you okay over there?"

"I live with Romani," Cremia said with a smirk and cocked eyebrow, "that's most definitely not the first time I've had to save something from being struck by an arrow."

Grasshopper just scratched the back of his head and quickly handed the bow back to Romani. He couldn't help but to think highly of Cremia for her reflexes.

-

Later in the day, Grasshopper was experimenting with the Multitask. He had it set on "drums" and sure enough the press of a button set off the sound of drums. While playing, he saw Cremia come by with jars of milk.

"Oh! Cremia!" He yelled, putting the Multitask away and getting Cremia's attention as she put the jars on the carriage.

"Yes?"

"What is this I hear about some guys harassing you when you try to make a delivery of milk?"

"Oh…" Cremia folded her arms, "that Romani can't help but to wedge you right into our lives… but it's true. Those Gorman brothers have been destroying my milk every time I make a delivery. There was one time, however…"

"One time?"

"Yes, remember that boy Link that visited us? He accompanied me on one of my trips to Clock Town and when the Gormans came to break the milk jars, Link used his bow to ward them off. It truly was a show… plus it was the only time I was able to deliver ALL the milk in contrast to only delivering a fraction of such."

"Hmmmm…" Grasshopper thought for a second, and then said, "I should talk to those guys, maybe I can get them to understand."

Cremia smiled, "Grasshopper, if you can manage to talk sense into those two I'd give you a big kiss on the mouth for sure. There is just no way those Rupee-grubbing sons-of-keese will listen to anybody unless they offer them some 'incentive.'"

She rubbed her fingers together to indicate money.

"No one can be that evil… can they?"

-

On the Gorman track, the Gorman brothers were talking merrily about how they were going to destroy Cremia's milk good when they noticed someone coming. They immediately got into commerce positions. Grasshopper rounded the corner into the main building of the track and saw two identical men who both had fake smiles.

"Weeeeell well, well, what have we here, brother? A customer, no doubt!"

"I agree with you there, partner! A nice boy willing to fund everyone's favorite local suppliers!"

They're routine was so fake that it didn't take a genius to know that this was not how they usually act.

"You must be the Gorman brothers."

"Indeed we are! Saw our signs on the Clock Town milk bar wall, eh?"

"Yes, right over every advertisement for the Romani Ranch, I noticed."

"Ahh, they just need to watch out for where they put their posters is all! We hire people to put up ours, so we have no control over where they're put! If they put them over the Romani Ranch posters, it isn't our fault!"

Yeah, you either did it yourselves or told your "people" to do it that way, Grasshopper thought. Maybe if he were direct, they wouldn't respond. Maybe if he tried to beat around the bush and make them believe he was out of the know slightly, he could lower their guard.

"You know, guys, I've recently heard that around this area a band of marauders are known to appear and attack carriages with milk on them."

Both the brothers stiffened up. Grasshopper had their attention.

"Sure is inconsiderate of them," Grasshopper continued, "people are only trying to make deliveries."

"Maybe those – what did you call them? – Marauders are desperate," one of the Gormans spoke up, "maybe taking the milk out is, ahem, their way of keeping themselves alive. Financially."

"That's right," The other Gorman said, "that Cremia has to be rolling in the greens and reds and purples while others, like those marauders, are ignored and can't pay off their dues."

Grasshopper raised an eyebrow, "Who said anything about Cremia?"

Both the brothers looked to each other, then returned to quiet stares. Grasshopper sensed hostility, so he decided to leave.

"I left my Rupees back at home, but I know I'll buy something next time!" It was an obvious lie, but anything to get out of that place.

-

It was almost time for the sun to set and Cremia was just about to make her delivery. Grasshopper approached her.

"Making a delivery?"

"Yeah."

"Mind if I tag along?"

Cremia looked at him, "Why?"

"Oh, I guess a nice wagon ride would do me some good."

"Okay, just be careful with the milk."

Cremia left to get drinking water in case they ever got thirsty when Grasshopper felt Romani tug at his tunic.

"Take this." Romani said, once again presenting her bow to Grasshopper.

"You want me to take this on the ride?"

"Yeah, the other Grasshopper has his own bow, but you can borrow mine to ward off those Gormans."

Grasshopper took the bow, "Thanks. Now get into the house, it's getting dark."

Romani said good night before entering the house. Cremia came back with bottles of water – after all, it was a hot summer night – and got ready to leave.

-

The first part of the wagon ride was seemingly peaceful enough. Once they reach the area where a gate could be, however, that's when Cremia would know the bumpy ride was about to start. Before then, she advised they enjoy the ride.

"So…" Cremia said, trying to spark conversation, "what would you have done. If you didn't decide to stay with us?"

Grasshopper looked from the view to Cremia, "I probably would have rented a room at the inn at Clock Town and explored the world, using that room as a home."

"Oh… do you regret being unable to do that?"

"Not really. I like it at the ranch. Besides, any former life without you girls isn't really a life at all, I say."

"That's really sweet." Cremia said softly, looking back at the road for a few minutes, then started to chew her lip again, "Grasshopper?"

"Yeah?"

Cremia thought about how she was going to put this… most of the time when she saw him, he was her friend Grasshopper. However, some rare times, seeing him in sunlight or something of the sort would fill her head with types of lust. She just wishes she could run over to him and… she shivered for the second time at the thought. She thought that perhaps he could help her out with that, to understand it, of course. She suddenly realized that she had his attention and nearly panicked.

"H-how's the milk doing back there?"

She could hear him patting the jars, "Snug as bugs and not going anywhere."

Cremia gave a frail sigh of relief. This wasn't the time to talk about… that. Maybe later, when they were alone on the ranch… in her room… on her bed. She suddenly gasped and held the reins to her heart. Of all thoughts of that type, that one was the worst one yet! She once again exhaled and soon enough those thoughts left her.

As Grasshopper looked at the road, an idea came to mind. He took out the Multitask and set it to "harmonica" and began playing, not really knowing what he was doing, but it sounded good nonetheless.

-

The peace did not last forever as the wagon found itself in front of a gate.

"Oh crap…" Cremia muttered in an exasperated tone. That was fast. She remembered Grasshopper with a start and wondered if he would approve of her using such language. She usually faced this alone and nobody really was there to hear her. She knew Grasshopper was listening and his silence said that he didn't mind. So, she said to him, "I don't suppose you have a bow or anything?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." He replied, holding up Romani's bow.

"That's… Romani's bow! She gave it to you?"

"Yup, said it would help."

Cremia sighed, "Okay, be ready when they come. Because they will come."

"I'm ready…" Grasshopper muttered, narrowing his eyes.

After a time, they found themselves on the Gorman track. Grasshopper kept a watchful eye for any movement.

"It's quiet… too quiet."

Silence…

Then-

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAW!"

"Wha-!"

Grasshopper couldn't finish his exclamation before a pair of horse-bound figures appeared from behind and began chasing the wagon.

"That must be them!"

Cremia only nodded.

As the figures drew closer, Grasshopper readied an arrow, "Are you sure this won't kill them?"

"Yes. Arrows can't pierce those masks they wear. All they'll feel is a sudden impact."

"Right. Okay."

"Disappointed?" At that the corner of her mouth curved upward.

"Only slightly."

Grasshopper let the arrow sit as the men on horses worked their way closer to the back of the wagon where the milk laid almost ready to be smashed. The men then unsheathed the swords they had and raised the swords in the air, ready to let them down upon unsuspecting jars of milk.

"Just try it…" Grasshopper muttered as the farther man got within a nice close range. Grasshopper wanted to see if he'd actually try to smash the jar with Grasshopper guarding it.

The man looked at Grasshopper with a look of recognition and seemed about ready to verbally indicate so when Grasshopper rudely struck the man on the forehead with an arrow. As Cremia had said, the arrow merely fell from where it struck the man and the man howled as he rubbed his head. His sudden outburst caused his horse to slow down. He trailed obscenities as he fell back.

"Gotcha!"

The other man saw how futile it was to smash the jars, and also remembered the other time with that kid in green and decided to go for the jar's sentinel. He stood with his feet on the horse's back and sword still raised. Grasshopper almost wondered what he was up to when the man leapt! He landed right in the passenger area of the wagon. Cremia looked back very worried.

"Oh sh-" Grasshopper muttered when the man brought his sword up to eye level. This encounter was going to get worse before it got better. Grasshopper dropped Romani's bow, worried that it could get destroyed if it got involved in a close range encounter.

The masked man swung the sword at Grasshopper's neck and Grasshopper ducked. The barrage of swipes continued with failed attempts at hitting until Grasshopper brought up one of the jars of milk to defend himself with. The sword hit the jar, not even scratching the jar. The masked man raised an eyebrow and brought his sword back, intending on striking hard enough to shatter the jar.

"STUPID!" Grasshopper yelled at himself in realization of what he was doing and fell on his bottom as the sword whooshed by above and struck a lantern used to illuminate in the dark night. It was lit, of course. The man got an idea and struck the lantern again, knocking it onto the floor of the wagon and causing a fire to start. Satisfied, the man jumped backwards out of the wagon and told the other man what he had done. They both rode away laughing.

"Stop! Stop!" Cremia yelled frantically as she tugged the reins on the horses pulling the wagon. This was to no avail, as the horses still ran on in a horrified dash.

"They won't listen," Grasshopper yelled from the back, "as long as the wagon is on fire!"

"Then we have to abandon the wagon! It's the only way!" Cremia indicated this by getting off her seat and working her way around the fire to right next to where Grasshopper was.

"But the milk…!"

"No!" Cremia shouted, even loud for above the fire, "It's the only way! We can't risk getting burnt or injured!"

They both got into position to jump off from the back of the wagon.

"You first!" Grasshopper yelled to Cremia, "I'll jump after you. I'm not going to try anything foolish!"

Cremia nodded, then leapt off the wagon with a yell. She landed on the ground hard and rolled a bit before gaining her bearings. She then looked for Grasshopper to see if he jumped. He had not. Cremia watched on as Grasshopper headed toward the fire in the wagon.

"Noble lying bastard…"

Shortly, another wagon came along containing the Gorman brothers. One of them had a fresh bruise on his forehead.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Allow us to take you back to your ranch, Miss."

Cremia felt that she should slap the Gormans for what they did, but she decided not to. She needed to the ride back. The entire time she worried about Grasshopper on the wagon.

On the wagon, Grasshopper looked back as if Cremia were watching back, "Crossing my fingers while promising I'd jump after you was a rotten thing, but I have to do something about this fire. Not only for the wagon, but it could hurt the surrounding area, too!"

-

It was much later in the night, even morning, and Cremia stayed up sitting at the table in the kitchen thinking only of it Grasshopper was okay.

"If… if anything happens to him… it'll be all my fault… Please come back okay, Grasshopper. Please…"

Her self-narration was interrupted by the sound of horse hooves and wagon wheels. Did the Gormans come back for some reason? There was only one way to find out. Cremia opened the door and saw the wagon that was approaching from the Termina field. Cremia recognized the wagon's covering. She recognized the horses, and she most definitely recognized the figure that lay unconscious in the passenger area of the wagon. Cremia ran over to see what had happened.

There were two other men in the wagon with Grasshopper. Both were one of the Clock Town carpenter's men. One held the reins to the horses while the other kept watch on Grasshopper. He looked badly burnt. One of the men saw the oncoming Cremia and pulled the reins to stop the horses. Cremia instantly bombarded them with questions.

"What happened? Is Grasshopper okay? Where's the milk? Did the horses hurt themselves-?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." One of the men stopped her, "One at a time, miss. One at a time."

Cremia forced herself to inhale and exhale normally and asked her first question very calmly.

"What happened?"

The man with the reins breathed in and started to talk. His story was so well told that it could practically be seen in one's mind's eye.

The story began with Grasshopper looking around in frenzy to see if anything could put out the fire. If he didn't soon, the horses could crash right into the walls of Clock Town. He tried smothering it with cloth, but it only fed the fire. He thought momentarily about using the milk, but he thought it was a waste of refreshment. Keeping his mind on refreshments, he remembered the drinking water that Cremia had packed. He could have used some at the moment, the already blazing heat of summer mixed with the hellish inferno that was the wagon made Grasshopper dizzy. Already the flames had licked his body over, giving him many burn marks.

With all his will, he forced himself to lift the jug of water and hurl its contents into the fire. By some miracle, the fire had died down enough to be successfully smothered and stomped out. After which, the horses calmed down and Grasshopper was able to steer them with no further interruption.

-

The door of the Clock Town Milk Bar swung open and in the frame stood a ghastly tired figure.

"My goodness!" The bartender gasped in shock.

"I," Grasshopper started, then coughed several times, "am making a delivery of milk. From the Romani Ranch. Don't worry, it's still very cold, just like it's supposed to."

As Grasshopper put the jars down, he coughed several times more and sat down.

"P-please take this!" The Bartender almost forced some milk into Grasshopper's face after having also dropped the bag with the payment for the milk in front of him, "on the house!"

"Thank you…" Grasshopper said weakly as he forced the milk down his throat. It soothed his ash-filled throat and made him feel better, "I'll be going now. Have to return this wagon in one peace." Grasshopper announced as he stumbled out the door again.

Grasshopper slight-limping through Clock Town caught the attention of the carpenter, though his ash-covered form probably more did it, though.

"Good Goddess! What in all Termina happened to you, boy!"

"Ah, it's nothing." Grasshopper lied, too tired to make a good story.

"Nonsense!" then to some of his men, "Hey, you two palookas! Make sure this guy gets home safely!"

"Yes, sir!" The two men left their posts and followed Grasshopper.

"Just make sure you come right back, you opportunistic slackers!"

They followed Grasshopper all the way to where he left the wagon. Grasshopper's difficulty in getting in worried the two carpenters.

"You sure you'll be okay there?"

"I'll be fine," Grasshopper said, and then passed out.

-

"An' I brought the wag'n back with him there keepin' tabs on Grasshopper there." One of the men finished the story as the other waved from the back.

"So Grasshopper was successful in saving the wagon…" Cremia thought about how much Grasshopper felt he had to prove to himself, "could… you guys help in getting him into the house?"

"Shore!" the man in the back spoke up, "beats working'!"

"Thank you. Thank you both." Cremia mused as the men carried Grasshopper out of the wagon.

-

Grasshopper came to in his room on Romani Ranch. As soon as he woke up he sat up in his bed and said, "The wagon!" Then pain began to set in, "Son of a-!" he grabbed his arm, "Ow!" then he used the other hand to grab the other arm. There was a series of wound grabbing and "ow!" until he eventually surrendered to the pain and lay back in the bed. A moist cloth landed on his forehead.

"You're not going anywhere for a while." Cremia's voice scolded. Grasshopper looked to see his shirt had been disrobed and Cremia lying wet cloths all over his upper body. They stung at first, but they soothed soon after.

"I, uh…" Grasshopper started, but paused to breathe in, "I put out the fire on the wagon. We didn't need to abandon it after all."

"So I heard," Cremia said, still soaking cloths and placing them, looking absolutely stressed, "you also delivered the milk. On time."

There was a moment of silence.

Cremia broke the silence harshly with an officially cracked voice, "You also could have been killed!"

Grasshopper exhaled, leaning his head on the pillow, "I had to do something. The whole area could have burned down, or worse. The fire could have gotten out of control and taken a whole lot of Termina."

"It could have…" Cremia said, back to her calmness, "or it couldn't have. You couldn't just have relied on luck, or… anything?"

"I could have… but then there would have been the issue of the milk and how it would have gone undelivered."

"Your life is much more precious to me than one stupid delivery of milk!" Cremia near shouted, clutching her current cloth tightly, causing the water soaked in it to be squeezed out.

"Cremia, you don't know what you're saying." Grasshopper said, hoping humor would hold back Cremia's tears. Unfortunately, it did not.

Cremia had thrown her whole body on Grasshopper's, getting her dress wet from the cloths but certainly not caring. It also resulted in some of the cloths flying off, which showed what disregard she had for anything but holding him. She had her face pressed against his shoulder, her hot tears streaming. Grasshopper felt that those tears hurt on his burns, but didn't say anything, feeling that it was fair retribution for making her cry in the first place.

Once the pain was dealt with in his head, Grasshopper realized at how close a proximity they were to one another. Cremia had her whole body pressed to his. She was so soft and warm and the scent of the farm on her was absolutely divine. He was worried his increasing body temperature would affect Cremia until she held herself at arm's length.

"I was so worried…" Cremia muttered and looked into Grasshopper's face. What little knowledge of life he had kicked in and he could sense a kiss coming, or even more. Though he'd like nothing better than to do so, and even resultant action, he felt that it would severely complicate things about the ranch.

"Are you done with those cloths? If so, could I please get some rest?" He said quickly, trying not to be rude.

Cremia was brought back down to Termina by his words, "Oh, oh, yes. That's all of them. Please do get some rest. You ought to get better real soon."

-

Grasshopper woke up about an hour or two later, still fatigued. His burns were not completely healed, but to the point where the moist cloths weren't necessary. As he took them off, he noticed a bottle of milk left on the table in the room. He sat in the chair next to the table and began drinking the milk. The window was open, so a breeze came in and it was absolutely soothing. Grasshopper, bathed in water and moonlight, would have sent Cremia into a fit of impure thoughts. On that subject, he thought about what nearly happened back there. Surely, the moment that nearly came to pass was a result of all the worry she held for him, and not just lust or pure emotion… right? He was even more worried about himself, and how he not only anticipated what would have happened, but he had wanted it real bad up until his sensibility kicked in and made him able to resist. He wondered if it was Cremia or maybe he just… needed it in general, and if so, if there would be a time when he won't be able to resist.

He made a mouth noise, dashing all those previous thoughts and turned them to something practical. After a long swig he looked at his reflection in the milk and only thought of what had happened even earlier.

"I bet Cremia wishes that she could deliver the milk without having to go through those Gormans… I know I do…"

He sat back and looked around the room and eventually to the window…

Right into the face of an owl.

Grasshopper wasn't alarmed, just fascinated at the intelligent expression staring back at him. Was it normal for an owl to just perch on a windowsill? What happened next certainly was not normal.

"Quite an interesting request you are speculating."

Grasshopper let out a yelp and almost dropped the milk, "You can talk?"

The owl nodded, "Yes, I can. I'll admit it's not normal amongst fowl to speak human tongue."

"Yeah, it isn't. I don't know what is more odd, the concept of a talking owl or the fact I'm carrying on a conversation with one.

The owl made a sound like clearing his throat, more out of wishing to continue with his previous thought than anything else, "Well, as I said before, your wish is quite intriguing."

"Wish?"

"You wanted to be able to go to Clock Town without going down the path, correct?"

"Yes."

"I believe that I can help you with that plight."

"Really?"

"Yes, I have a way to make you travel to a location within the blink of an eye."

"How!" Grasshopper exclaimed, then narrowed his eyes, "Are you a magic owl?"

"It involves your instrument." The owl continued, disregarding Grasshopper's question.

Grasshopper looked over to the top of the dresser and saw the Multitask. He picked it up and showed it to the owl.

"This thing?"

"Yes," The owl nodded, "it is indeed a curious invention. Using it, you can travel far in short amounts of time."

Grasshopper only looked at the Multitask.

"Allow me to show you." The owl said, and then breathed in.

The owl sang a tune that went: Down left up, down left up.

Grasshopper repeated the song with the Multitask set to "ocarina." This is how Grasshopper learned the Song of Soaring.

Almost immediately Grasshopper felt as if he were flying. He saw all of Termina with only a few blinking spots on the ground. Grasshopper wanted to be back in the room and as soon as the thought entered his head, he was on the path leading to the Ranch and right next to an owl statue. He quickly ran back to the ranch and into his room. The owl was still there and seemed to enjoy the look on Grasshopper's face.

"What just happened?"

"Using that song, you can warp to any owl statue in the land. They have to be activated by the swing of a sword, though. Fortunately for you, someone has already done all that."

"Wait, I can explore the world without having to move out of the ranch?"

The owl merely nodded.

"This is fantastic! Wait until the others hear this!"

"I suggest you get some rest first."

"… But now I can't sleep with the thought of this… unless you know a song of sleeping."

The owl seemed to make a chuckling noise and made to take off, "I'm glad I could have been of help, young lad."

"Wait! Do you have a name?"

The owl's head rotated almost all the way up-side down, "I am called Kaepora Gaebora."

"Eh, I'll just say 'KG.'"

"If you so wish. Now if you excuse me, I will steal off into the night."

"Bye, KG!"

As suddenly as KG had appeared in Grasshopper's life, so did he vanish. For good? Only time can tell…

Grasshopper has played out a very desirable scenario. He is able to explore the world without leaving the people he has come to know and love in the passing of just three days. The sun rose on a new day as the question of where Grasshopper could possibly go weighed in on his sleepy mind.


	4. The New Fifth Indigogo

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 4: The New Fifth Indigo-go**

_Originally thought to be a minor nuisance, that self-righteous "hero" has become a serious threat. His most recent victim was the master's wife. Of what the servant saw, she was a decent woman, undeserving of such a fate. This made the master very upset. Did that "hero" know that he was killing actual people, or think about whom he was killing? Well, maybe if the master and his cohorts did not take the forms of monstrous creatures, the "hero" would reconsider slaughtering them._

_The servant could understand the prospect of losing a person and being angry, but he did not understand why the anger occurred: love. The servant had never known love, only rejection, ridicule and hate. In fact, the only one that the servant was even close to feeling "love" for…_

_Is the master._

-

The first thing Grasshopper did when he woke up was finding the closest sister and tell her the news of the new song he learned. There was quite a hubbub centered on this fact.

"Where should we go first?" Grasshopper said in an excited glee, looking at The Multitask all the while.

"We are not going anywhere," Cremia said in a regretful tone, emphasizing the word "we," "the ranch needs much looking after and until we can find ranch sitters, Grasshopper will have to go on his little ventures alone."

"Awwwwww..." Grasshopper and Romani moaned in unison.

"It's for both your own goods."

"I guess it is. I promise to tell you guys everything that happens wherever I go."

With that, Grasshopper whipped out the Multitask and played he song of Soaring. After he played the song, a pair of wings wrapped around him and vanished, taking Grasshopper with them.

"Cool." Romani blurted.

-

In the air, Grasshopper's mind, without any reason, turned to those Zoran musicians who played at the milk bar some days ago. As soon as he did think of them, he found himself back on the ground. Grasshopper looked around the current area he was in. He was on a small strip of land surrounded entirely by water and his only company was the owl statue. He eventually noticed the huge cave and went in.

The look of the cave was deceptively small from the outside. Inside the cave was a very expansive area that was multiple stories and many, many rooms. The area was also filled with Zoras. Floor to ceiling, Zoras. Grasshopper's head rotated in almost every direction, taking in the watery community. He apparently looked ridiculous, as a group of Zoras passed by him and one muttered, "Tourist..."

His searching of the area made him sit on a bench and lean on a drawer. Grasshopper then looked at the drawer and it contained pamphlets that had the title, "Cape Zora."

"That's convenient."

The pamphlet contained information about the housing, the Zoran communities, and a "Zoras for the ignorant" section, which was really only a name. Grasshopper tried to ignore until he forced himself to look at it.

-

"Heads up!"

Grasshopper barely had time to look when a green ball came flying at him. He instinctively thrust his fist at it in self-defense. The ball was surprisingly spongy and flew right back to where it came from. The ball flew into an alcove where a Zora awaited its return. He wasn't ready for the ball and it flew right past him, smacking into the wall behind him. A "Whoa!" rose up from all the Zoras nearby. Grasshopper got curious and walked over to the field-like area.

"Dude, that was awesome!" A Zora greeted him as he came by,

"None of us could think making a goal from all the way over there was possible! That was good for someone who isn't Zoran."

"Not much I can do about that." Grasshopper joked as he saw the field he was in. The area in total was no bigger than a typical sports field with two alcoves about six feet about ground level. There were six Zoras on the ground and two in the alcoves, one for each. It seemed there was one Zora on the sidelines who was meant for the field.

"Have you played Fin before?" The Zora asked. It was unfamiliar to Grasshopper.

"What's Fin?"

"Dude! You've never even heard of Fin and you've already scored a goal! That's crazy!" The Zora went on to explain the rules of the game "Fin."

-

The game of Fin has ten players, eight on the court and two in their team's corresponding alcoves. The name of the game was to get the ball (called the "fin") into the alcove, the inside wall of the alcove to be specific, and score as many goals as possible. The game ends at the first team to get to 15 points. In the beginning of the game, the fin is tossed into the air and two Zoras try to leap and knock it to a teammate (players can position themselves anywhere at the time of the jump). Holding the fin for extended periods of time is illegal, so hitting it with your fist is the only way to transport the fin. There is no limit to how many times in a row a player can hit the fin, so they have all the time to set up a perfect pass or shot, assuming they do not have the fin taken from them. A player can hold the fin in both hands only for a very short amount of time. In this time, an opposing player can take or knock the fin from the player holding it.

If the fin is on the ground, it's a free-for-all for who gets the fin first. A player who grasps the fin in both hands while he is on the ground is able to pick it up without fear of it being taken away. If they hold the fin to the ground in attempt to stall for a strategy, it results in turning over the fin to a player on the other team. Once the player has the fin in a position in which they can throw or hit it comfortably, the other players may proceed to attempt to disconnect the player from the fin. As far as scoring goes, one point is scored is the fin is tossed into the alcove successfully. Two points are scored if the fin is hit in the alcove by contact with fist or foot or any part of the body, as long as it is knocked in. If the goal is made from half court, then the point values are doubled, so it is possible to obtain 4 points in one goal. The goalie protecting the alcove may hold the fin for as long as they wish if they catch it. They can hit it or throw it, even in attempt to score a goal on the opposing team's goal, a feat in which the likelihood of performing successfully in slim to none. If the goalie leaves or falls from the alcove, the game still continues. It is the responsibility of the goalie to get back into the alcove.

-

"That sounds simple enough." Grasshopper said, going over the rules again in his head.

"Cool! We're down a guy, want to join?"

"I don't know..." The rest of the Zoras all yelled in encouragement of Grasshopper joining a new game. Grasshopper smiled, "Majority rules, I guess." and then joined the game.

-

Fin was a very physically demanding sport. Only in the first few plays, Grasshopper found himself drenched in sweat, despite the cool atmosphere of Cape Zora. It made his tunic cling to his form, which bothered him a bit.

"This guy is an ANIMAL!" One of the Zoras yelled, referring to Grasshopper, who had along already scored 5 points. 9, if one includes the one he made from the bench.

"12 to 7, here it comes!" Another Zora exclaimed at the fin launcher placed in the center of the court popped the fin into the air and the Zoras jumped for it. The Zora on Grasshopper's team hit the fin back with his fist and it landed square on Grasshopper's fist. The fin soared high above the court and another Zora on Grasshopper's team caught it, spun around, and tossed the fin into the goal. It was good.

"Yes! Lucky number 13!" The scoring Zora yelled, intending the contradiction of what he just said, both as a show of confidence and a taunt to the opposing team. Meanwhile, while they played, there were many spectators, Most of them Zoran girls. For no particular reason besides entertainment, they took to messing up the players by flirting. Most of the time it worked. In a short amount of time, a vast majority of these expressions were thrown to Grasshopper. His face was already red with fatigue, but these distractions made his face turn a darker shade of red. For some reason, he felt that their suggestive flirt was beyond that of merely messing him up.

The fin was launched shortly and none of the jumping Zoras got to it. They had smashed into each other by accident, dashing any chance of actually coming in contact with the fin itself, so the fin landed right in the center of the court. There was a moment of silence as both teams prepared to dive for the fin. The silence was broken as an all-out war broke for possession of the fin. A Zora on the opposite team grabbed the fin, making all else back away. He tossed it and bumped it hard into the goal, but the goalie caught it. Everyone below watched as the goalie surveyed the court and eventually tossed it blindly. An eruption of fists rose up to hit the fin in a beneficial direction, but a grabbing hand got to it instead. It was a Zora on Grasshopper's team.

"G!" The Zora yelled to Grasshopper. They thought calling him 'Grasshopper' was too odd, so they just called him 'G.' The Zora, instead of tossing the fin or bumping it to Grasshopper, rolled the fin along the ground at a high speed (which is very legal in Fin). Grasshopper got the hint and saw that all opponent Zoras were way too far away to stop him. Grasshopper ran at the oncoming fin and when he got close enough, thrust his foot forward in a crushing kick. The fin collided with his foot and was sent like an arrow pulled back all the way before letting fly. The thing is, the fin is very rubbery and sways with the slightest wind. Such an impact made the fin almost undetectable as it soared toward the goal. The goalie didn't try to block it. On the contrary, he dove away from the fin in fear. As the fin entered the alcove, a great cheer rose from all the Zoras supporting Grasshopper's team. The score was a hit made within close range, so it was worth 2 points. That made the score 15 to 7, which meant Grasshopper's team won.

-

The two Zoran team captains met in the center and exchanged a handshake.

"We smoked you, Tan!" The captain of Grasshopper's team exclaimed, shouting the word "smoked" for emphasis.

"No you didn't, Rist. He did!" Tan said, pointing at Grasshopper, "next time, we get him, okay?"

Grasshopper scratched the back of his head at their expecting him to come back. That must mean they like him.

"Whatever, man! I could go for a drink. What a game!"

"You're telling me," Grasshopper said between gasps, "I might be good, but never in my short memory have I been this tired!" Keeping in mind the previous day's encounter.

"What you need," Rist said to Grasshopper, clapping an arm over his shoulders, "Is some misting. We meet there after we play. If you sit on a rock just far enough from that waterfall, the mist of the fallen water will cover you. It totally cools you down. You might want to take off some of that there, uh..."

"Clothing?"

"Yeah, that's what you guys call those things. I don't really know what it is with your kind and clothing. We don't wear clothing. Not all the time anyways."

"Well, we just have much more to hide."

"Like what?"

"Rist, got change for a purple?" A Zora yelled from a nearby refreshment bar.

"Coming!" Rist said as he dropped the subject and ran over to his friend.

-

Grasshopper had taken up on Rist's invite and slightly disrobed to the point where he only had his long pants on. If he weren't so well built, he probably would have felt less awkward about it. He joined Rist and the others near the waterfall.

"Dude, you made it!" Rist greeted as Grasshopper leapt some rocks to get to the rock next to where all the other Zoras hung out. As Grasshopper approached, Rist presented him with a bottle of beverage, "Try some!"

"What is it?"

"I think it's made of seaweed and Takkuri down but after our brewers are done with it," Rist took a swig, "man that some good drinking!"

"Right..." Grasshopper said as he eyed the greenish mixture. He slowly tilted the bottle and drank some, almost immediately he took the bottle from his mouth and coughed. He then muttered, "Smooth..."

"You like?"

"Uh," Grasshopper held the bottle out to Rist, "You can have my share. I already brought something."

"Your loss." Grasshopper watched the Zora drink more of the beverage. The drink must be a Zora thing. Grasshopper definitely knew what he liked. From his pocket he took out a bottle of milk he brought with him from the ranch.

-

After finishing the milk and placing the bottle back in his pocket, Grasshopper felt something tugging at his leg. He looked down and saw one of the Zoran girls, about his age, trying to pull him into the water.

"Hello?" Grasshopper said to the Zora.

"Come on in!" She said back in a playful yet mischievous manner. Grasshopper in return tightened his grip on the rock he was on.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Awwww!" She moaned in a disappointment that showed not sign of retreat, "But the water is so cool and you need to cool down after that display while playing Fin!"

"The, uh, waterfall's mist is doing a good enough job, thanks." He tried being dismissive but he knew he was losing the tug of war, as the rock he was on was slightly wet. Judging by how badly she wished for him to lose, he knew that as soon as he slipped off and crossed over to her realm, he'd be at her mercy. Of course, it was obvious what she wanted, and he was sure life would go on without it.

There was back and forth dialogue until all of the male Zoras started yelling out "Dang!" and "Move away!" and all dove into the water. What - or who - they were getting away from was an elegant woman Zora who was actually wearing a purple dress.

"Now now, Zenkit." She said, smiling, to the girl Zora pulling on Grasshopper's leg, "let's not be rowdy."

Zenkit saw who it was that was talking to her and gasped, "I'm... sorry... Miss... Lulu..." and then her face grew a shade purple as she sunk into the water, dismissing herself.

"Thank you, I guess," Grasshopper said as he readjusted himself and watched Zenkit swim away hurriedly, "I was afraid to be where she wanted me."

"That Zenkit. She always is dangerously playful. Especially around the cute boys."

Grasshopper scratched the back of his head and suddenly recalled Lulu in his memory. "Haven't I seen you, before?"

"Oh, you must have seen the Indigo-gos perform at the Clock Town Milk Bar or something. I'm Lulu, the singer for the group. And you are...?"

"Grasshopper." His introduction was met with the usual raised eyebrow, blank stare, then acceptance that yes, someone has the name "Grasshopper."

"I guess you and your group are celebrities around here."

"Yes, we live and practice here. Every time we practice, we always get a crowd. We don't mind, since we work with crowds everywhere else. It's hard to tell the difference between a practice concert and a public appearance anymore." Lulu laughed slightly, and then went silent.

"Is something wrong?" Grasshopper said, with his trademark ability to sense bad vibes that are hidden.

"Oh, no. Well, yes. Talking about performing with the guys has reminded me... of Mikau..."

"…And who's Mikau?"

Lulu thought for a second, stared off, narrowed her eyes, chewed her bottom lip then stood up, "You don't need your day ruined by my needless reminiscing. It was nice meeting you, Grasshopper." Lulu said quickly in a somewhat bossy and dismissive tone. Grasshopper knew something was up, especially with the indignant look and the way she held herself.

-

After completely redressing, Grasshopper resumed his self-tour of Cape Zora and found himself in a hallway filled with many memorials. Some to soldiers slain in battle, some to brave Zoras who braved treacherous waters for the sake of treasure; but one memorial piqued Grasshopper's interest. There was a plaque, and in front of it was a guitar that was made of the bones of fish. The plaque said, "Here lies Mikau of the Indigo-gos. He perished by the hand of the Gerudo while attempting to reclaim the eggs of his love, Lulu."

"That's who Mikau is..." Grasshopper muttered to himself, realizing how memory of him was painful for Lulu. For a minute, he wondered if having memories of such sorrow really were better than having none at all, but ended up scanning the plaque and saw directions for the song Mikau had been seen last performing. The song was titled "The New Wave Bossa Nova" and was described as Mikau's final song before vanishing. Grasshopper took out the Multitask and set it to "guitar" and played the song: Left, up, left, right, down, left, right.

Grasshopper continued to play the song as it's beautiful rhythm filled the hall and all of Cape Zora. Almost all activity halted to listen to the flawlessly played tune. From her room, Lulu peeked outside and saw the music was coming from the memorial hall. Lulu entered the hall and saw a lone figure playing in front of Mikau's memorial.

"Mikau?"

As soon as she said that, the music stopped and Grasshopper looked from the ground to Lulu in the entrance of the hall.

"Not exactly..."

"Oh. I'm sorry; it's just that Mikau played that song... For a time, I didn't talk in mourning for Mikau. But I heard that song and found the courage to speak again. I just thought, by some crazy dream, that Mikau would appear again and play the New Wave Bossa Nova once again..."

"Wow. How poetic."

"If you think..." Lulu said, her gaze shifting to the Multitask, "what is that?"

"This?" Grasshopper lifted the Multitask, "I call this the Multitask. I don't know where it comes from, but as soon as I first played it, I felt like I was meant to play it and got very good very fast."

"Oh, it's an instrument...? Perhaps you can help after all. Would you mind following me?"

"I've got nothing better to do."

-

Lulu lead Grasshopper to the room of the Indigo-go member Japas. Inside were Japas and the other two members of the Indigo-gos. Japas was in his bed and looked sick.

"Ooohhhh... Tijo... is that you...? Everything's getting dark... Oooohhhh..."

As Lulu approached, the bigger Zora looked to Lulu, then looked Grasshopper over, "I thought you were going to get a replacement bassist, not some kid who isn't even Zoran."

"Must you be so critical, Evan?" Lulu said in response, "he has a lot of potential. You hear the guitar music moments before. That was him."

"I don't believe you." Despite his musical talent being dishonored, Grasshopper turned the subject to the sick Zora, "What's wrong with him?"

All in the room looked at Japas as he muttered, "I see a light... Mikau?"

"Hm." Evan rolled his eyes and shook his head, "He's over exaggerating, but he is sick. It's bad milk, I tell you."

"Yeah," The Indigo-go drummer, Tijo butted in, shoving past Evan and jabbed his finger at the ground repeatedly, "When we left a performance at the Clock Town Milk bar a couple of days ago, those Gorman guys practically shoved some free samples of their milk in our faces. They said if we like it, to buy more. Much more. Japas here was the only one to have some. According to those Gormans, they owe us, because of the low quality of the milk, you know."

"I can believe that..." Grasshopper muttered. Japas did seem to be exaggerating quite a bit, yet he was green around the gills, so to speak.

"...And we need a replacement bassist otherwise we can't play tonight," Evan said darkly, "Or any other night. Man, first Mikau, now Japas..."

"Dude, don't say that!" Tijo yelled.

As the Indigo-gos bickered among themselves, Grasshopper couldn't help noticing a sheet of paper labeled in Zoran script. Some of it was in a language Grasshopper could understand, however. There was a song called the Song of Healing. There were also notes in scripture Grasshopper could understand. They read: If played for too long, healed will become a mask. Grasshopper went over the notes in his mind and then went toward Japas. He took out the Multitask and began playing with it set on "guitar." He played: Up left right, up left right.

As Grasshopper played, he noticed black slime-like orbs of… something exiting Japas. He continued playing as more and more gobs exited the Zoran bassist's body. Eventually, blue gobs starting exiting Japas's body and Japas became transparent. Grasshopper immediately stopped playing. Japas returned to normal.

"I'm better!" Japas's voice cut through the tension. All looked to Japas. Japas jumped out of the bed and looked himself over. "No more queasiness. No more blurred eyesight. No more urge for Cucco meat... How did this happen?"

"I think that was my doing." Grasshopper said, motioning to the musical notes and the Multitask he held in his hand.

"That's impossible." Evan, ever the skeptic, said.

"No, man! He's right! I remember! I was about to throw up when I heard that song of healing I saved from that green clothed kid and I was better!"

"Well, then, Japas. That means you can play today, doesn't it?"

Japas realized this with a start, then muttered, "Yeah... you're right. Thanks a lot, man..."

That thanks did not sound too sincere. Something was up. Japas put on a show of being sick and now he seemed disappointed that he's able to play? Grasshopper was getting to the bottom of this.

-

It was later and Grasshopper visited Japas as he tuned his bass guitar.

"Oh, it's you. Thanks again for the save. I really, uh, appreciate it."

"I don't think you mean that. Can you tell me what's going on so I can help?"

"You? Help? What, do you think you can solve any problem you walk in upon?"

"I try." Grasshopper said with a shrug and raised eyebrows.

Japas sighed, "Fine, fine. You know Mikau, right?"

Grasshopper nodded.

"He was my best bud, blood brothers, amigos, all for one and one for all, you know? I felt like with him there, I could perform all day every day! But... after he died..."

"... You lost the ability to play?"

"No, no. I can play like no one's business. It's just that..." and before continuing, Japas looked all around, then whispered, "Mondo stage fright..."

"Stage fright? From a performer?"

"Sssshhhh! Dude, you want all of Cape Zora to know the ugly truth? Well, they will eventually know, after all the crummy playing I've done as of late whenever we go in front of a crowd."

"You needed Mikau to perform well?"

"Yes! Without him, it's like someone pulled the plug on my nerves and let it all flow out and leave me a quivering mass, or at least a guy who messes up when he doesn't run. It stinks, man."

"That doesn't sound too rational. I mean, why do you need someone else to play well? I mean, it gives you confidence when doing something with someone, but how does someone's absence make you a worse player?"

"It just does!"

"So you're telling me that you are so occupied with Mikau that you can't play well? Haven't you played base enough that you don't need to think?"

"Kind of… Sometimes I have that 'one-ness' type thing going."

"And with the stage fright, do you really think that your fans will think of you any differently because Mikau's gone?"

"Don't know why they would..."

"Exactly! So take my advice and stop brooding on what could be and start being the best you that you can be! In the end, fiction is exactly that. Fiction. Just tell me how thinking of something that you know never will be will make things better?"

"You know what? You're good at this problem-solving thing. I'm going to get up there and be "Japas"! Not "Japas, friend of Mikau!" Respects to my deceased bud, but now I have a life to live. I bet moving on is just what Mikau would have wanted me to do."

"I'm glad I could help." As Grasshopper turned to leave, Japas called to him again.

"Dude, with that instrument you have, you should play with us today! I might not need Mikau anymore, but it would be nice to have a guitar sound behind me. You know, a slow and steady path to being Mikau-free?"

"Sure, why not? I have nothing better to do, anyways."

"You should ask Evan, the big guy. Sure, Toto is our manager, but he leaves Evan in charge when he's away. Besides, what's the worst thing Evan can say?"

-

"Hell no!"

"Apparently, that's the worst thing he can say..." Grasshopper muttered to Japas from the side of his mouth.

After Grasshopper asked if he could join the Indigo-gos for a night, Evan just got into a fit of repeatedly yelling "No!" After spouting the reasons that Grasshopper shouldn't play, he added, "On a completely unrelated topic, the guy isn't even Zoran!"

"That's it, right there!" Lulu suddenly snapped. The room went silent after that, for such ferocity was not typical of the Zoran singer. It wasn't Grasshopper being in the Indigo-gos for a night that made Lulu snap; it was Evan and his controlling ways. He had always been hardnosed and did things his way when Toto wasn't around, but ever since Mikau died, Evan became a dictator of the way things went in the Indigo-gos, almost as if he had to prove something.

"You really believe in this guy, don't you, Lulu?"

Lulu folded her arms in a huffy manner and nodded. She saw a bit of Mikau in Grasshopper, though she never told anyone.

Evan rubbed his brow and sighed, "Fine. You know what? Fine. I'll give this guy a chance. I'll put him through a sound test. If his prowess with... that thing-"

"Dude, it's the Multitask!" Tijo suddenly said.

"The Multitask..." Evan was obviously under a lot of stress by the way he emphasized the instrument's name, "Then I might change my mind about him."

"Sound test...?" Grasshopper said to the other Zoras, a bit nervous.

"Dude, you'll do fine!" With that, both the male Zoras almost pushed him into the sound test room.

-

The sound test room was awfully petite. It only contained amplifiers and a keyboard, most likely for Evan to play on.

"I don't suppose that thing has a slot for the amps, does it?" Evan asked, holding up a plug meant for the amplifiers.

Grasshopper looked the Multitask over and saw a hole in it that didn't look like it was for construction purpose, "This?"

Evan checked the hole. The plug fit in perfectly, "I guess that'll do."

As Evan got set up, he explained the sound test, "This is how it goes, I'll present you with notes. You memorize them. If you can play those notes well enough being accompanied by my keyboard playing, I'll consider you a competent musician."

Using the word 'competent' didn't lighten Grasshopper's opinion of Evan.

"Okay, first off. Lulu says you were the one playing the New Wave Bossa Nova earlier. Let's see if she's right..." Evan flicked some switches on the keyboard and the directions for the New Wave Bossa nova appeared in Neon right in the front of the keyboard set. "Got it?"

"Yeah."

Evan began playing the keyboard and on his signal, Grasshopper played the song with the Multitask still on 'guitar.' The notes that followed were almost flawless. Evan fought not to tear up at this beautiful playing. Had it been a Zora, Evan would have halted the session right now and welcomed the new member, but this was a non-Zoran person. Evan intended to give this guy more of a challenge. The thing is, the fans have been dwindling ever since Mikau died. Evan saw that accepting a non-Zoran member would look like an act of desperation and an overall act of poor judgment. If Evan were to take a risk with this guy, he would make sure the risk was well worth it.

"Not bad, not bad. Let's try this song." The new directions for a song appeared in neon for the next sound test: "A," down, left, left, right.

"Got it."

The guitar ability that spawned from an instrument that wasn't even a guitar just choked Evan up inside. He knew this Grasshopper guy was good, but did his talent surpass Zoranly possible feats?

"Okay, guy. You are doing pretty well so far. Let's see if you can handle this!"

A very long string of notes appeared in front of Grasshopper that seemed to never stop. That song was, in fact, one of the closing acts of that day's program. They had done the song before, but always they needed the song sheet in front of them to remember the song. If Grasshopper messed up, Evan wouldn't hold it against him. He planned how he would say "Just kidding" after Grasshopper messes up a million times.

"Got it." Grasshopper muttered, not looking the least bit overwhelmed.

We'll see, Evan thought as he started playing.

What happened after that was unbelievable. Grasshopper almost looked possessed as he played his notes. The tune flowed smoothly and Evan could not deny it. Zora or no Zora, this guy had this song down.

"He's not even looking at my song sheet, he has his eyes closed! This guy's the real deal..."

As the song came to a close, a voice erupted from the door. "Encore! Encore!"

Both Grasshopper and Evan looked to the door. "Who...?"

As soon as that entered both their minds, the door flew open and Japas and Tijo fell forward, formerly leaning against the door. Lulu was behind them, still standing. The three of them had been eavesdropping!

"Dude, that was awesome!" Japas yelled, not taking authority or respect for privacy into account, "You didn't even look at the notes a second time or anything! You just played that song like second nature!"

Despite all compliments, it was all in what Evan thought. Evan slowly approached Grasshopper, making a show as if he was indifferent, but he knew his answer the entire time.

"Grasshopper, is it? I don't know how you got that name, but it's going be on our program for today's show! You're in!"

There was a big excited hubbub mostly held up by Japas and Tijo.

"Dude, today's show is going to be sooooo awesome!"

"It's not going to be awesome unless you guys start practicing!" Evan cut through the moment like a hot knife through butter.

"Yeah, yeah. It only takes five seconds to be classic Evan, huh?"

-

Despite the obvious respect Grasshopper earned from Evan, Evan still rode his back about practicing. Some hired kid running around announcing stuff was already hyping today's show. Somehow, that didn't make Grasshopper feel better.

"'Wherever…' 'Wherever…' ahh, Dammit!"

Grasshopper had been wandering about the area that the Indigo-gos resided when he heard the female voice in great frustration. He slowly approached the open door and saw Lulu sitting over a piece of paper with a writing utensil. Several crumbled pieces of paper on the floor signified that she was working on something.

"Knock-knock." Grasshopper interjected gingerly to notify her he was there.

"Huh?" Lulu looked over, her eyes confessing to her distressed feeling.

"Working on something?" Grasshopper asked, cutting in to the problem.

"Oh, um, well, yes." Lulu muttered, embarrassed at how angry she had previously looked.

"What is it?

"It's a song… Evan is actually letting me write my own song and music for tonight's show."

Grasshopper looked at how the papers were strewn about the ground. That and Lulu's hissed anger said something, "It's not going well… is it?"

"No." She said immediately, as if Grasshopper had been shoving it in her face.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"Oh… I can't think of anything. I used to have so many ideas back when… when…"

"Mikau was alive?" Grasshopper completed gently.

"Yeah… when Mikau was alive." Lulu said softly and looked down, eyes brimming with tears, "It wasn't so much as gaining confidence as… having a muse to work with."

"I see." Grasshopper nodded, he could see the difference between her problem and the one that Japas had earlier, "What kind of song are you looking for?"

"Just something… meaningful. Something that would strike a heartstring or get a person up and dancing, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah… I've been talking music with some of the guys here… perhaps you could try making the lyrics as such, then later remix it into a techno beat?"

"Yeah… I don't need everything in one song, I could make both songs and people can request whichever song befits the occasion!"

Grasshopper nodded, "Now all we need are the lyrics, huh?"

"Yes, that is what I was thinking about… I'm thinking of taking the 'sad love story' angle and working with that. Do you know any sad love stories?"

"Not really, but maybe we can piece it together… a sad story, a love story, then mix it all up."

"Well, I was originally thinking something to do with my life…"

Grasshopper narrowed his eyes, "No offense, but doesn't that seem a bit… expected?"

"I suppose, but who's story can I do?" Both Grasshopper and Lulu looked around, as if to see somebody there to do a story off of, "Wait… how about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes. Deny it all you want, but you have indirectly become my new muse."

"Me?" Grasshopper repeated. He felt flattered, but it made him wonder if she meant that in the way of a typical muse or the type of muse that Mikau had been, all other relations inherent.

"Yes. Now… tell me about yourself.

Even though he barely knew anything about himself, Grasshopper had a surprising lot to tell. Pretty much the theme of amnesia played a key role and it turned into a theme of loss. Loss is always essential to a sad love story. After a while…

"Done!" Lulu said triumphantly, "I think this one is really good!"

"Let's hear it." Grasshopper grinned.

Their compiled song, in a purely basic form, sounded more professional and smoothed out than it really was. When Lulu finished, she looked to Grasshopper for approval and he applauded.

"Fantastic, Lulu! I think we have something here!"

"Grasshopper, thank you so very much."

Before he knew it, Lulu had gingerly approached him and gently hugged him. Out of courtesy, he hugged her back. She seemed to engrossed in the hug, so Grasshopper said, "Um, you can let go now."

"Oh… of course." Lulu said with a nervous chuckle. She let go and hid her purple face.

After saying goodbye and leaving, Grasshopper thought about the hug and wondered if she was really hugging Mikau back there… or worse, hugging him with the same tender affection she would Mikau. Maybe if he forgot about it, it would just disappear…

-

"Doesn't Evan seem a little uptight?"

"I know! You pass by him and he says, 'get to work!' I mean, dude, does he do any work himself? Hypocrite, man..."

"I know!"

Japas and Tijo were enjoying a nice conversation when they crossed Grasshopper.

"Dude! Just the guy we wanted to see!"

"I am?"

"Yeah! It's like, what? An hour at least before the show and we were wondering if you're content with your image."

"My image?"

Grasshopper looked down at his "image." I light green shirt and tan pants. Nothing out of the ordinary, which might be what they were contesting

"What's wrong with my image?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Japas waves his arms in an X, as if it proved his point more, "But we were thinking, you being one of us and all, perhaps you should look more like us!"

"Uhhhh... makes sense... I guess..."

"What do you think, Tijo?"

"I say... rock star makeover!"

"How come I feel like I'm going to regret this?" Grasshopper asked.

-

Japas and Tijo's idea of improving Grasshopper's image seemed awkward for him. Rather than a nice, normal shirt, they pressed on him a jacket made of leather with no way of closing it, so it uncomfortably exposed his chest. Instead of normal pants, they gave him funny feeling long pants made entirely of denim. On his face he wore sunglasses and purple paint streaks going from his eyes down. For a final touch, they added a red bandana and used some kind of gel to make his hair stand up entirely.

"Bro, we've done it."

Grasshopper tilted the sunglasses down, "Is this all really necessary?"

"Dude, you are so rock legend! I mean... dude!"

"Dude" wasn't high on the list of descriptions Grasshopper had for his new "image." As if Grasshopper didn't feel enough like a dummy already, Lulu had entered the room then.

"Has anyone seen my-?"

"Lulu! Lulu! Check it out! Grasshopper..." Then kneeled forward and made an 'X' with his arms, "Extreme!"

Japas and Tijo presented the oddly dressed Grasshopper to Lulu. There was a moment of silence as Lulu would intake the information being fed to her brain by her eyes. As soon as she confirmed how Grasshopper was dressed, she burst into laughter. She didn't even care about what she came into the room for. She just stumbled out holding her side.

"Was it something I said?" Japas said to the other two.

-

It seemed like no time at all before the time of the "practice concert." It barely seemed like a practice concert, as screaming fans were in front of the stage, which was a huge clam, and there were spotlights shining everywhere.

"This is a practice concert?" Grasshopper said to the other members, more than slightly surprised.

"What can we say?" Japas said, "We cross over the line so much that the line is a dot to us."

Evan, despite the situation, still kept a uniform look and formulated how they would come onstage when they were announced.

"Okay, you two jump right out. Lulu, you can just walk into position, and Grasshopper, you can stalk in the shadows. You know, suspense before we unveil our one-time fifth member."

"I can do that."

Grasshopper looked out and saw all the screaming fans, the only thing keeping them from bursting onto the stage was a Zoran comedian... and a row of Goron security.

"Nervous?"

Tijo had come from behind with that question.

"Not really. You?"

"Uh, yeah. But that's always before a show."

"Okay, so how do you feel? Walk me through your emotions."

"Emotions? Okay. Emotions... Well, I'm nervous... a bit nauseous, um, a little tired. A smidge sad, aaaaand hungry. Yeah, hungry. Okay now I'm really hungry. Hey does anyone have food?"

That was met by a barrage of "No"s.

"Thought I'd ask."

-

The moment of truth was at hand. The comedian wrapped up his act and started to announce the Indigo-gos.

"Now I'll stop talking and introduce the people you all came for! Mind you, today they are performing with an extra member, you lucky people! One time only! Here they are..."

The excitement was just unbelievable.

"The... Indi... go-gos!"

The roar of the crowd was deafening. Grasshopper didn't know how long he could stand it, but he knew he was there to have fun and to show everyone what he was made of. Japas and Tijo jumped out first, making the crowd get somehow louder. Evan calmly walked over to the keyboard and Lulu came next, slowly and gracefully, to the center podium where she would always sing.

"Here goes nothing..."

Grasshopper emerged from the curtain, averting his eyes from the numerous lights. His appearance spawned a temporary surge of heightened excitement amongst the crowd. Who wouldn't cheer louder for a mystery performer? Grasshopper looked at Evan and a slight nod indicated where Grasshopper was to stand. The crowd did not yet know the identity of the mystery performer, but they would soon enough. A moment Evan had in the back of his head all day.

"How's it going, Cape Zora!" Japas yelled to the crowd, spawning a more deafening tone, "Think we have a good turnout, today?"

This question was aimed at Tijo next to him. The drummer rubbed his chin in a pretend thought. This was the pre-song performance that hooked the fans in closer and closer until they begged to start, which is right where the Indigo-gos wanted them. It was a common music performance trick.

"Do you think it's because of my ability with the base?" Japas egged on more. This conversation was rehearsed before. The crowd responded with louder cheers.

"...Or do you think it's the drumming abilities of our own Tijo?" The fall in noise was brought back up.

"...Or perhaps it's the background music played by our own ingenious genius, Evan?" Once again, the cheers fell after they cheered for Tijo, but the cheer regained at Evan's mention.

"You know what? I think it's the vocals of our own Lulu!" Japas motioned toward the singer as she did a little bow for the crowd. The cheer for Lulu was loudest yet.

"No way, bro." Tijo cut in, building suspense, "I personally think... that it's this guy, back here!"

Though Grasshopper knew no one could really see him as anything more than a silhouette, he raised the arm he did not hold the Multitask in. He really didn't need to hold the Multitask, as Japas lent him and old guitar strap of Mikau's.

One could not believe the cheers that spawned from a mystery person. It was like an explosion, but sound-wise.

After announcing they get the party started, Japas began playing and all others followed in suit. Most of the songs did not hold big parts for Grasshopper, but he did not mind. He didn't want to make a big name for himself, anyway. He seriously did not care if his face was even shown. As long as he played and the people knew it was all that mattered.

-

The concert had gone on great, as planned. Their songs were all executed perfectly. Maybe it was the good vibes or the weight that had been lifted off a lot of their shoulders, but even though Grasshopper hadn't been to many of their performances, he could sense that they were giving it more than they had in recent months.

The defining moment was one of their falling action songs, a lyric-infused version of the Ballade of the Windfish, one of their more popular songs.

The song was going off great without a hitch until some Zora who was a stage manager decided it would be fun to aim a spotlight at the mystery musician as a, you know, cool thing. When the spotlight hit Grasshopper, however, the cheers did not increase. In fact, they came to a screeching halt.

The silence that followed was agonizing. It was so silent that there wasn't even a ringing in anyone's ears anymore.

"This new guy isn't a Zora?" A cry of disbelief rang from the crowd.

"Have the Indigo-gos lost it? Are no Zoras good enough for them?" And so forth with the finger pointing and comments as sharp as daggers.

It was then the booing started.

Never have the Indigo-gos been booed. Maybe almost once, but never officially. All the Indigo-gos looked at each other, Evan casting anyone he locked eyes with an "I told you so" type look. It seemed tonight's show was ruined.

It seemed that way to all except Grasshopper. He wouldn't have any of it. This wasn't nice. So he wasn't a Zora? Big deal. Get over it. Grasshopper almost involuntarily pressed a button on the Multitask, sending a single note that halted the booing and resumed a silence. This silence was different, however, it was one of scrutiny. The crowd now watched in anticipation of what this new guy would do next, so they could officially judge him.

Grasshopper knew it was game time, and he suddenly was not at Cape Zora anymore.

-

To clear any confusion, Grasshopper was still on that stage physically, but his mind was in another place. He was in a room. His room. The instrument in his hand freshly made. He looked down at it and started playing. The notes flowed out like no musical technology had ever replicated. His random playing erupted into an official sounding song, one he kept close to his heart. It went: Down, Down, Up, Up, Right, Up, Down, Left. The tune that followed was a very catchy dance tune.

He knew he had created something special. Years of his life paid off in this one moment of musical glory. All his life he heard the ultimate in musical Multitasking had been replicated into huge, bulky, piano-ish forms, but he has now done one better.

The Multitask.

-

Grasshopper was back in Cape Zora, on the stage. Was all that just happened real? What was that room? How come he felt it was his first time with the Multitask after all the playing he had done already. One thing was for sure, that song he played in the room had been heard by all in Cape Zora, for he hear Japas mutter to Evan, "Did you write that?" A question to which the keyboard player said, "I... don't think so."

The crowd's silence was now one in awe. The guitar solo they had just heard hit them right in the heart, making them feel how much this new guy wanted their support. All the Zoras in the crowd agreed. Their cheer erupted slowly, then a full-blown roar emitted to the stage; not one of prejudice and hate, but one of support. Some even chanted "New guy!" repeatedly.

The show had truly started.

-

Many encores spawned from repeated request of the crowd, mostly for hearing more of the non-Zoran musician who wielded an alien instrument that sounded like a guitar. The excitement in Cape Zora almost matched that of when Mikau was still alive.

The Indigo-gos and Grasshopper all decided on one final performance. They were all worn away from constant playing, Lulu's voice seemed to weaken, but still remained strong and melodious. The song they decided to finish off on was the one that Lulu and Grasshopper had completed. Apparently, Lulu had been able to give it to Evan, get it approved, and then smooth it out before the show.

Everybody agreed silently that if they were going to finish this concert, it was going to be with one hundred and ten percent effort. After Evan gave the cue, the music rose. Per the song, Lulu waited for some of the music to pass by and merely swayed or did little dance moves. Once the cue for the lyrics to start was heard, she began to sing.

"What do you know?

What do you know?

What do you know?

And… how do you know?

How can you deny, deny the times past,

In a relationship that was said to last?

Why do you, try to hurt me so,

Or do you even know?

I have a feeling,

_I have a feeling,_

I can't deny.

_I can't deny._

I have a feeling,

_I have a feeling,_

I don't know why,

_I don't, know, why!_

It's a feeling I know you before,

I try and I try… but I can't ignore!

How can it be, I feel this way,

Why doesn't it just go. A-way!

Don't you think that you get the news?

Don't you get the feeling to choose?

Or do you actually need some kind of muse?

Because believe me, you still have much… to… lose!

Can love really be true, if it merely rises and falls?

Is it really is better to love and lose than to never have loved at alll!

Don't you get that feeling,

_Don't you get that feeling,_

You can't deny,

_You can't deny,_

You have that feeling,

_You have that feeling,_

Don't you know why?

_Don't you know why?_

Can it be that, there's something inside,

That won't come to you, but you'll have to get up and find!

It's there and I know, but I can't see it now,

It's completely vanished and I don't know how!

It's not as easy as you think that it is!

It's all come down to this!

Make a struggle and put up a fight!

Together we will see the light!

We have a feeling,

_We have a feeling,_

We can't deny,

_We can't deny,_

We have this feeling,

_We have this feeling,_

And now… we… know… why!"

The song went over very well, the crowd even cried out for the "new guy" to do several solos, but that was all the Indigo-gos could muster; they were spent.

-

As night fell, and autograph requests were two minutes apart, Grasshopper decided to go back to the Romani Ranch. He had, of course, been brought back to his "original image." He and the Indigo-gos were saying goodbyes on the outdoors side of the entrance to Cape Zora, next to the owl statue.

"I had a great time at Cape Zora." He said needlessly to the Indigo-gos as they saw him off as he prepared to play the song of soaring.

"It's been real," Japas said, exchanging a handshake, "Say hello to the people at home for me."

"Yeah, home..."

"You're going to come back, right?" Tijo asked as Japas took his leave.

"You know I will." Grasshopper said with a grin.

"Tight."

"I'm so sorry for being the way I was," Evan said in the silence of Tijo leaving, "But you saw how they were at first. I was trying to avoid having that and having it stick."

"You were only doing your job, it's really nothing personal."

Grasshopper and Lulu watched Evan leave, and then Lulu turned to Grasshopper. Counter-intuitively, Grasshopper spoke first.

"I can see you changed the lyrics a bit," He said, "seems like the amnesiac actually gets his memory back."

"Yeah…" Lulu said, folding her arms against the cool wind. She looked off in the distance, her clothing flapping elegantly, "That's because… I know you can do it."

Grasshopper hadn't expected that, "Thank you… very much." He said just as silently as she had. The wind whipped around and tried to muffle their words, but they both heard each other clearly.

"You've really helped me today," Lulu cut through the wind, "I never really got over Mikau, as most of the band, but I think I'm ready to complete my moving on now. I'm sure it's what Mikau would have wanted."

"Same here."

There was another silence, but a temporary halt in action. Lulu began to walk gently over to Grasshopper. Grasshopper had no clue of her intent. When she was close enough, she lifted a hand and placed it on Grasshopper's cheek. Grasshopper closed his eyes and shivered slightly, her webbed hand was warm. Then suddenly, she started to lean forward, intent on pressing her lips to Grasshopper's. He thought of it quite forward of her and entirely too soon, but wouldn't contest it if she kissed him. She must have felt it, for right when the tips of their lips nearly touched, or perhaps they grazed, it was too close to tell, she rotated her head about his and instead kissed his cheek. Oddly enough, differing from the rest of her Zoran skin, the feel of which resembled rubber slightly, Lulu's lips were soft, warm, slightly moist, and felt just like "regular" flesh. Per this, Grasshopper shivered yet again at he felt the temperature in his skin rise.

As soon as she was done, Lulu backed up, for surely being close to him for an extended period of time would have eventually flared up her lust to a point too far for ignoring. She solemnly stopped across the strip of land from Grasshopper. Grasshopper exhaled, relieved that she felt the same way he did. He took out the Multitask and brought it into playing position.

"Goodbye… for now."

He played the song of soaring and like before, a pair of wings wrapped around Grasshopper and made him vanish.

"Bye… Grasshopper…" Lulu whispered and walked back into Cape Zora.

-

Grasshopper landed at the Owl statue a short walk from the Romani Ranch. As he walked, he went over the day in his head. Playing Fin… then playing for the Indigo-gos. Perhaps, for Cremia's sake, he would leave out all the tender moments with Lulu, because there really was nothing going on there… or so he wanted to believe. He looked as the sun barely finished setting on the day and all Grasshopper needed was some sleep.


	5. Deku Dillema

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 5: Deku Dilemma**

_He was getting closer… the servant could feel it. If only… if only he could just encounter this hero, he would destroy him, for he was but a child in over his head. The master insisted he stayed still, only to leave to have meetings with… her._

-

Grasshopper woke up late that day; the previous day's activities having wreaked havoc on his energy. In the morning, however, he was fresh and ready for a new day. He decided to try mastering a weapon. In case something were to happen similar to what the Gormans tried a couple of days ago. Looking through the stuff that was on him when he came to the ranch, he saw just what he was looking for: A sword.

Grasshopper took some logs and got in the middle of the vast field that the house looked over and started practicing with a sword, seeing if it would bring anything back. No memories came to mind, but Grasshopper figured out that he was very good with the sword. As Grasshopper swung it gracefully and brought single logs to become pairs, he felt like he was back. But back where? It made his mind spin, thinking about it.

"'Hoy there, young man!"

Grasshopper re-sheathed the sword and looked into the distance and saw the Clock Town mailman. The mailman jogged over to where Grasshopper was.

"Can I help you?"

"Got some mail for the girl who lives here. I trust you're going to give it to her?"

"Sure," Grasshopper said, taking the lone letter, "Do I have to give payment?"

"Unfortunately," The mailman said with a shrug, "I kinda go out of my way to make deliveries to the Romani Ranch."

Grasshopper reached into a pocket and picked out some rupees that he had come to obtain in the past couple of days.

"Thanks, kid!" The mailman bowed as he jogged away.

"A letter, huh?" Grasshopper said as he walked back to the house.

-

"Cremia?" Grasshopper called, poking his head through the door.

Cremia came down the stairs looking like she was trying to hide a stressed mood, "Yes?"

"Uh, letter." Grasshopper said, sensing some sort of vibe. He stretched his arm out and Cremia took the letter.

As Cremia looked the letter over, her mood seemed to improve.

"What's it say?" Romani, the blatant eavesdropper, asked after practically dropping in from the ceiling.

"It's from some people who thought about being ranch-sitters!" Cremia said excitedly, "They have agreed to look over the ranch for today!"

"Where are you going?" Grasshopper asked.

"With you!" Cremia said with a smile.

"Huh?" Came out of both Grasshopper and Romani's mouths.

"You tell us about the trips you plan to take, so I decided that I wanted to come along! The only reason why I didn't want to come along the first time was because I didn't have Ranch-sitters. But now that I do, I can go!"

"Cool! Where are we going?" Romani asked excitedly.

"You're not going anywhere." Cremia said sternly.

"What!" Romani asked, dismayed that she'd be left behind again.

Cremia knelt down to her younger sister, "You know the outside world is a dangerous place. I know I'll be safe with Grasshopper. He's been practicing with a sword!"

"So you saw me, huh?"

"Besides, no ranch-sitter would want to do your chores." The older sister teased.

"Hey!" Romani said while suppressing a giggle.

"The ranch-sitters should be here soon, so why don't we go?"

"Sure..." Grasshopper said, taking time to gather some stuff.

After Grasshopper was done, he took out the Multitask.

"Perhaps you should hold on or something."

Cremia heeded Grasshopper's advice, grabbing his arm.

"We'll be back by tonight." Cremia said to Romani as she waved goodbye.

Grasshopper then took out the Multitask and played the song of soaring. After the last note was played, both Grasshopper and Cremia were taken into the air by a pair of wings.

-

The two of them landed in front of a tall building in a swamp-type area.

"That was... interesting..." Cremia said, gripping Grasshopper's arm a bit tighter than before.

"You'll get used to it," Grasshopper said with a laugh, "You can, uh, let go now."

"Huh?" Cremia blurted, unaware of anything. She then realized what she was doing. After yelling "Oh!" she let go with a slight blush, for it was more about… feeling him than anything else.

"Wonder where we are...?" Grasshopper mused as he looked around.

"We must be in the Southern Swamp..." Cremia said in response.

"You're an authority compared to me." Grasshopper commented with a hint of truth.

Some yelling interrupted their awed sightseeing.

"Heeelp! Somebody!"

"What's that!" Grasshopper said, looking for a source of the voice.

"Over there!" Cremia pointed to an old lady with a stereotypical "witch" costume who was being attacked by Octoroks. This flared the action hero in Grasshopper.

"Wait here." He said to Cremia as he drew his sword and approached the beasts.

As soon as Grasshopper got near, the Octoroks both faced him.

"Uh oh..." Grasshopper muttered. He saw the old lady slowly creep away from the scene. Grasshopper breathed a sigh of relief as she got away.Unfortunately, his relief was short-lived as the Octoroks began spitting what looked like rocks at him. "Woah!" Grasshopper yelled as he dodged the first flurry of rocks. As the second wave sailed at him, he struck one of them back. It his the Octorok and it fell back in the water. The Octorok retreated, now knowing that their foe knew their weakness.

"That was amazing!" Cremia said upon Grasshopper's return.

"Fun, too!" Grasshopper smiled.

"Wonder where that lady went?" Cremia asked when they both saw her go up into the tall building.

Grasshopper and Cremia both shrugged as they approached the ladder that led up to the entrance of the tall building. Grasshopper helped Cremia up the ladder and they entered the building.

"Hello?" Grasshopper called into the room when they entered. They looked around the oddly expansive room and Cremia found what looked like some sort of concession booth with a lone hole showing what was on the other side. She curiously peeked through the hole and saw a bloodshot eye staring back.

"HOLY-!" She yelped, causing Grasshopper to skip to her location. Grasshopper looked into the hole and the eye disappeared, making a whole panel on the wall drop, revealing the witch-like woman.

"Ah, the young man who saved me!" She cackled delightedly, "I'm sorry for bolting, but I was in a bit of a hurry to get out of there!"

"Don't worry about it." Grasshopper said dismissively.

"My name is Koume. I run a ferry service and right now I am running a promotional contest with the pictographer in a neighboring building. You should visit him."

Being the ones on a trip to see new things, Grasshopper and Cremia got directions to the pictographer's place and went just there to see what was up with the aforementioned contest.

"Yup," The Pictographer said after being asked, "I loan ya this pictobox, you take a picture, and I'll give ya a cash amount depending on the quality of the pictograph. They can come from 1 rupee to about 250 rupees. Of course you'd have to take a pictograph of the ground to get the 1 rupee prize."

"Interesting!" Grasshopper said as he applied.

"We really could use that money back at the ranch..." Cremia said under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"So..." The pictographer gave Grasshopper the pictobox, "You tell Koume that I sent ya and she'll ferry you around the swamp. During the ferry, you can take a pictograph of the most interesting thing you see. Though recently the business has been slow."

"We'll think of something." Grasshopper said as he pocketed the pictobox and both he and Cremia took their leave.

-

"The pictographer sent you? Well just wait here..." Koume said after being told what happened, "Don't tell anyone, but because you done saved my life, I'll ferry you two for free. I typically charge a criminal fee… kee hee hee…"

After being fit into the ferry, Koume released the chain holding the ferry and they were off. Despite the scenery being that of a swamp, it was still very beautiful.

"Wow..." Cremia couldn't help but stare in awe at all the scenery. She found a way to loop her arm around Grasshopper's and lay her head on his shoulder, this time, not so much so out of lust, "This is so wonderful... I don't really care if we don't get a high-priced pictograph, it's all worth it right here."

Grasshopper, obviously not getting the hint, still looked around through the pictobox for a good pictograph opportunity. Not for money; merely because competition seemed to spark a childish need to perform good work. Grasshopper saw some movement in some bushes and almost went to take a pictograph, but it occurred to him that the source of that movement might be common in those parts.

"What are those?" Grasshopper asked, pointed in the direction he saw the movement.

"Hm?" Cremia looked in the direction and saw some Deku scrubs running alongside the ferry, "Oh, those are Deku scrubs. Their palace is located around here. Don't worry about them, though. They're generally a peaceful people."

In a very contradictory moment, one of the Dekus shot a Deku nut from its tubular mouth and attempted to sink the ferry! The ferry was splashed off course and was beached on a nearby shore.

"Peaceful people, huh?" Grasshopper muttered as they both quickly exited the ferry. A sophisticatedly dressed Deku came to greet them.

"I'm terribly sorry," He said with a bow, "My men don't think well recently. They must've thought you were-" The Deku had paused because he saw Cremia. It's face darkened with what must've been a Deku blush, "Oh, my!" He said and grasped Cremia's hand, "You are a vision of lovliness!"

"Um... thank you." Cremia muttered, her face red.

"You must be my queen!"

"Your what!" Cremia next to shouted, slightly backing up "I'm sorry, but I'm not... um... a... Deku..."

"I'm sorry! But once my mind is made up there is no turning back! Men!"

As the Deku commanded, two Dekus came to either side of Cremia.

"Watch out!" Grasshopper yelled, but in vain, for Cremia had jumped clear of the spot she was in a planted a hard kick on one of the two Deku. The remaining Deku ran forward and received the back of Cremia's hand. By no means crushing, but still powerful for a person of her physique.

"Woah…" Grashopper breathed, Cremia had moves. This was dispelled when two much larger Deku came out and successfully grabbed Cremia.

"Stop! Let me go!" Cremia unsuccessfully tried to struggle, but the two Dekus to either side had a firm grip.

"What's the meaning of this, anyway?" Grasshopper demanded to the regal Deku, "the lady requested that she be let go!"

"Hmm, the heroic type, eh?" The regal Deku smirked, "you types are what keep my types from getting the power we so deserve! Men?"

Grasshopper barely had time to react before two more large Dekus came from either side, spinning. Grasshopper looked just in time to be sliced by the first spin attack. It cut across his face, causing a thin ribbon of blood to fly. The result of the hit made him lean to one side, which after that, another Deku came and sliced him on the other side of his face with the same result.

The Deku came back and spun again. Grasshopper was ready to chop them both when they swung, one in front and one in back, and came at him from those directions. They succeeded in pass-by slicing, both cutting one of this sides horizontally and tearing his green tunic.

"Grasshopper!" Cremia yelled with little regard for her own situation.

"Dammit, give me time to retaliate!" Grasshopper shouted as he raised his sword. He jumped over the Dekus on their next pass and hit one with his sword, causing it to end its spin. It stopped, giving Grasshopper time to slash forward. Though it didn't cut the Deku, the sudden impact was enough to knock it senseless.

"Go, Grasshopper!" Cremia cheered.

Grasshopper stared down the remaining Deku. It began to spin at him and he was ready, but not for when it stopped suddenly. Grasshopper had his guard down for a split second, enough for the Deku to shoot a high-speed Deku nut square into his chest. With a shout, Grasshopper fell into the water, the cuts sending droplets of blood into the air before they followed him in.

"NO!" Cremia shouted, eyes full of tears.

"Don't be afraid," The regal Deku said to Cremia, "I'm sure you can find a better life with me much more easily than you can find with that… child."

"I'd rather die!"

"Hm... so be it. It can happen after the wedding, does not matter for me. But for now, onward!"

As Cremia was dragged away, Grasshopper's body finally sunk below the surface of the water. As soon as he did, a hand reached out and dragged him from a watery grave.

-

Grasshopper came to looking at a wooden ceiling. As he regained his senses, he remembered the past events.

"Cremia!" He shouted as he stood up, forgetting the unbelievable pain all over his body. He clenched his teeth as all of his cuts started to register their pain at once. He then noticed he was in Koume's building and the witch was looking at him from her booth.

"A life for a life, young man." She said in her aging voice.

"But... you saw the Dekus, right? The way they took Cremia!"

"An unfortunate fate, alright... Here." Koume tossed a jar at Grasshopper and he caught it. It contained some red liquid, "my sister runs a potion shop and I always keep one of these jars full of red potion around since the one time I was knocked off my broom. At the moment I think you need it more."

Grasshopper looked from Koume to the potion. He squinted at it in a paranoid way, but eventually took a swig of the stuff and almost immediately did the pain vanish and his cuts heal, albeit slowly.

"Woah..." Grasshopper said, "This stuff is incredible!"

"Yes, well my sister is incredible!" Koume declared with a cackle.

"Now I can help Cremia escape from those Dekus!"

"Excuse me!" Koume said, not minding her business anymore, "you intend to help the girl? After she was taken away? You're crazy!"

"I don't care if it's suicide... I have to try anyway."

Koume heard these words and thought something over for a second. She then decided that doing what she thought of doing was the right thing.

"Young man... I think I can help you. Listen close."

Grasshopper got off the ground and walked over to Koume. She dragged Grasshopper into her booth and spoke very quietly.

"Halfway through my ferry tour is a stop to the Deku palace. You can get off there. Go across the river and go right at the entrance. Over there is a big hole in the ground. Go through it and you'll end up in an expansive pit with a man with a bag of beans. If you describe your predicament to him, he'll tell you what to do."

Grasshopper nodded at all this information, "I guess I'll have to pay you for the ferry this time..."

"Oh, no!" The old woman cackled, "I haven't paid off my unwritten debt to you! Besides, you didn't complete the ferry ride. Consider this the other half of the free ride."

"Thank you." Grasshopper said and walked out the door into the ferry that Koume retrieved when she had saved Grasshopper.

"Ready? I won't be able to take you back!" Koume warned.

"I'm ready."

"Good luck, young man!" Koume yelled after Grasshopper as she unhooked it and it floated away.

-

Grasshopper's second trip through the river was much more quiet, as he now stood up and had his sword out, ready if any Dekus would try to stop his rescue operation. Thankfully for him, the trip was uneventful up to the point where he neared the first entrance to the Deku palace.

"Wait... how do I stop the ferry?"

Grasshopper looked around for an anchor or anything to help stop the ferry. He thought that he was going to pass the first entrance when the ferry stopped by itself! In an impatient confusion, he checked the ferry for an anchor, boulder, docking bay, or anything that stopped the boat. Deciding that he didn't want to waste time finding out this mystery, he just left it at the ferry was magical and left it to go into the Deku palace.

In the palace, Grasshopper noticed the entrance into the main palace was guarded. The guards did not notice Grasshopper, so he easily swam the river separating him from the other side. At the other side, he heeded the words of Koume and went to the right of the entrance. Just like the old woman said, there was a hole along with a patch of soil. Grasshopper ignored the patch of soil and jumped in the hole, landing on his feet.

"Hmm? Oh! A customer!" A big man with a bag of beans that he kept eating from said as Grasshopper landed in the hole.

"I was told that I could get help from you." Grasshopper said, assuming that this bean guy was who Koume was talking about.

"What seems to be your problem?" The bean guy asked, not halting his process of bean eating.

Grasshopper explained what had happened so far, making sure to press in the details of how much help he needed.

"Quite a dilly of a pick you got there," The bean guy said in-between munches, "One of my beans ought to get you into the Deku palace in no time! Of course you've got to water it first with the pure water in that lake over there," The bean guy pointed out a lake of water that was also in the hole, "You got a bottle to keep water in, right?"

Grasshopper reached into his pockets and pulled out a bottle, but it was filled with milk.

"I have this... but I just can't waste it."

"Bottom's up?" The bean guy suggested as he shoveled beans into his mouth.

Grasshopper chewed his lip for a second as he prepared himself to drink the entire bottle in one gulp. He breathed in, and then tilted his head back as he quickly emptied the contents of the bottle into his mouth at an increased rate. Even the bean guy stopped eating beans to stare in awe. As Grasshopper finished the bottle, he clutched the side of his head. Brain freeze. Of course, they didn't know about brain freeze.

"Wow!" The bean guy exclaimed at the show, "you can have a bean on the house! It seems you really want to help your friend!"

"You got that right..." Grasshopper said painfully as the bean was tossed to him and he caught it. He then bottled some water and left the hole after bidding farewell to the bean guy.

"So I just plant this in soil...?" Grasshopper said to himself as he placed the lone bean into the patch of soil he ignored on his trip in.

Grasshopper then watered the planted bean with his bottled water and stepped back from the soil. He waited for a while and almost dismissed this whole bean thing as a wild goose chase when a sprout erupted from the soil. Grasshopper watched, interested, as the bean shot out, then flattened out and looked big enough to step on! For kicks, Grasshopper decided to try stepping on the plant. Imagine his surprise when the plant suddenly floated in the air, taking Grasshopper with it!

"I think I drunk that milk too fast...!" Grasshopper said as the plant ended it's ferrying at the ledge of a balcony that led to the inside of the Deku palace.

"Uh, thanks... plant." Grasshopper said as he entered the palace, not wanting to wait to see if the plant would suddenly say, "You're welcome."

Grasshopper walked through the doorway and looked in upon the Deku palace, only to see it swamped with guards!

"Here goes nothing..." Grasshopper muttered as he leapt down from the ledge overlooking the palace and started sneaking around.

He dropped from the high ledge and began to look for Cremia. The castle was quite large, so he had been exploring a while before anything special happened. As Grasshopper backed up from a guard who didn't notice him, he felt something hit his back.

"Woah!"

As he uttered the cry, a surprised squeak was heard from the source of the bump. Grasshopper whirled around, but didn't see anything!

"Down here!"

Grasshopper looked down and saw a monkey. A white monkey.

"A monkey?"

"That's right!" The monkey said proudly, "and I'm here to save the Deku princess! What are you doing here?"

"A friend of mine was taken by the Dekus."

"Your friend wouldn't happen to be... a girl, would it?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Oh, no!" The monkey wailed, "I must hurry!"

"What!" Grasshopper demanded of the monkey, "why is it so bad that they captured a girl?"

"Ohh, I guess I should brief you on what's happening..."

The monkey explained the situation to Grasshopper. It appeared a corrupt Deku named Raust came from nowhere and claimed to be the long-lost son of the king. Soon after he "returned," the Deku princess went "missing." If the new prince were to get a bride and marry her, he would become the new king due to Deku laws. The monkey had previously cared for the princess with returned affection, so he put it upon himself to find where the princess really was; she was most likely in a dungeon.

"Shouldn't the guards know it's the princess?" Grasshopper said, wanting clarification on some things.

"Raust lied to the guards, saying that the real princess was an imposter. They're only doing their job, which means they don't enjoy keeping someone who claims to be the princess in the dungeon."

"Okay..." Grasshopper muttered as he saw a guard asleep. An idea popped into his head, "How bright are the guards here?"

The monkey smiled, "Not very."

"I have a plan; and it just might work."

-

"Halt! Who goes there!" A guard yelled when he saw Grasshopper being escorted by another guard.

"No worries," The guard said, "I got 'im. I'll take him to the dungeon. Eh, where is the dungeon, again? It's my first day."

"Oh, down that hall and to the left. Can't miss it." The guard said, only being helpful.

"Thanks. C'mon, you." The guard said, poking Grasshopper in the rear with his spear.

As soon as they were out of sight, the guard shed his armor to reveal that it was the monkey!

"Ow… my ass…" Grasshopper whined, slightly frustrated, "did you have to poke me?"

"I wanted to be convincing. Did I hurt you?"

"Only my pride..." Grasshopper muttered as they approached the dungeon.

The dungeon was merely an unguarded enclosure surrounded by a spiky fence. Using the key from the guard's armor, the monkey opened the door to the dungeon. In the dungeon were a female Deku and Cremia. When Grasshopper looked at Cremia, however...

"Holy sh-!" He shouted and averted his eyes. Cremia was in a traditional Deku wedding suit. Seeing as how Dekus were much smaller, so were the clothes. To clarify, she only wore a pair of wooden cups connected by thin string that had leaves hanging from it for upper body clothing. Her lower body clothing was a small palm frond skirt. Grasshopper wondered of underwear was included in that suit. Grasshopper still found himself looking, enjoying it in the very far corner of his mind. He never really knew that, well, her shirt was so large that he never really got an impression of… and he never imagined her curves to be so…! He made a mental note to bash his brains out with a hammer when this was all over, or whatever else he was thinking with at the time. Cremia, however, had been under the pretense that he was dead, so she ran over and threw her arms around him regardless of what she looked like.

"I can't believe that you're alive! How did you do it! Did that kind old witch help you out? Oh… I was so worried and started to think that you were really gone!"

Grasshopper, however, remained quite stiff and red in the face, for she had her scantily clad body pressed pretty tightly to his. Cremia gave a deep gasp at this realization and backed up a ways from him, blushing as dark a red as her hair.

"Uh, are your, uh, real clothes anywhere nearby?" Grasshopper muttered at last.

"Yes. I was forced to change..."

"Okay, the monkey and I are busting you out of here."

"Monkey!" The female Deku, who turned out to be the Deku princess, said and saw the monkey next to grasshopper, "It's you!"

"Yes!" The monkey said happily, "And now that Raust's 'bride-to-be' will escape, we can easily expose Raust for the fraud he is. Quickly, let's get the girls to a safe place!"

"Right!" Grasshopper said, checking to see if Cremia was back in her normal clothes.

As they dashed out from the dungeon, they made a beeline for the exit. Any guard in their way was quickly downed by a smacking in the head from the hilt of Grasshopper's sword. It seems that all was going to end well when...

"Halt!"

A figure stood dominantly in the doorway out.

"Raust!" The Deku princess yelled at the figure.

"You two are supposed to be in the dungeon. I guess the monkey and- hey, I remember you!" Raust said, looking at Grasshopper, "My men took care of you!"

"I got better." Grasshopper simply stated.

"No matter, though." Raust said calmly as some Deku guards pointed their spears at the backs of Cremia, the Deku princess, and the monkey, "Men!"

Grasshopper anticipated the two large Dekus to come spinning at him from either side, so he jumped when they came. They crashed into each other and hit the ground.

"Ah, you learn," Raust said calmly still, "but can you handle this?"

Raust referred to a rather large Deku even bigger than Grasshopper. It looked at Grasshopper then smiled sinisterly. It began jabbing at Grasshopper with a large spear.

"Careful!" Cremia shouted to Grasshopper as he dodged.

Grasshopper grinned, for the bigger they are… He waited for the big guard to jab again, and then hit the spear with his sword. The spear became lodged in the ground. Grasshopper took advantage of this and ran up the spear. The Deku only watched as Grasshopper ran right to his face and smashed it in with a kick. There was a loud crash as the Deku hit the ground, out cold.

"Oh... ow…" Grasshopper moaned painfully, for the Deku had been pretty dense. His foot was going to hurt tomorrow.

As soon as this happened, a flurry of guards with their spears came to put a halt to Grasshopper's winning streak. To counter this, Grasshopper swung his sword at them menacingly. There was a pause as there was a stand-down between the Deku guards and Grasshopper. Grasshopper smiled and held out his hand. He then bent his fingers toward his palm to signal: "Just bring it."

"Chaaaaarge!" The lead guard shouted as they assaulted the lone Grasshopper. It was a massacre, a total one-sided affair. Those Dekus didn't stand a chance.

"He is very good with a sword!" The Deku Princess commented.

"Or maybe he was at one time..." Cremia said, also watching interested.

"Go get 'em!" The monkey cheered as Grasshopper took the Deku guards as they came and knocked them all down one by one.

It eventually got so bad for the guards that the three holding Cremia, the Deku Princess, and the monkey captive were forced to join the fray. They did not last long.

"Damn you!" Raust shouted as he sprinted away.

"He's getting away!" The Deku princess shouted above all the noise.

"You want me to do something about his how?" Grasshopper said, fending off Dekus all the while.

Raust seemed like he was going to escape when who else but the monkey jumped on his head! The monkey forced Raust to the ground and started scratching at his head.

"Get off me, you filthy ape!" Raust shouted as he did a Deku spin and forced the monkey off. The monkey landed in front of Raust.

"All right, Raust. I'll teach you for messing with Deku royalty, my dear friend, and G's friend over there, and not necessarily in that order!"

"You think you can take this on, monkey boy!" Raust shouted back in response. He looked to his side and pulled out one of the thin fence logs, one of the ones with the pointy ends, and wielded it like a sword.

"Oh yeah?" The monkey retorted as he pulled out a log of his own. They promptly began sword fighting.

"How chivalric…" The Deku Princess said.

Meanwhile, Grasshopper had had a simple enough time taking care of the guards, even an easy one.

"Banzai!" One guard shouted as it jumped from a high point. Grasshopper looked up in horror until suddenly, Cremia had jumped up and with a yell, delivered a kick to the falling guard! The guard fell well away. When Cremia landed, she smoothed out her dress.

"Nice." Grasshopper commented.

"I've had a couple of lessons." Cremia smirked.

"Get him, Monkey!" The Deku Princess shouted to the other battlers.

Raust jabbed forward aggressively with his weapon while the monkey dodged or intercepted with his own. On one final jab, the monkey brought his weapon below Raust's and brought it up, making Raust's weapon fly from his hand.

"Behind you!" Grasshopper shouted, but in vain. One last guard had swept with his spear and knocked the monkey away. Grasshopper in turn knocked the guard away.

"Revenge…" Raust breathed, and turned… right into the way of Cremia and the Deku Princess.

The girls nodded to each other, and while Cremia held him still, they both punched his face hard. Time seemed to slow down as Raust flew through the air and fell on the ground with a thump. When he got up, Grasshopper was there with his sword over the Deku's head.

"Men!" Raust shouted desperately.

"Nope." Grasshopper said. All possible guards had been downed.

"Don't hurt me!" Raust yelled and got down on all fours and bowed in begging for forgiveness repeatedly.

"Tempting, but I'm not that low." Grasshopper said, not moving his sword from above Raust's head.

Some of the guards came to and saw the scene.

"Our prince!" One of them shouted, not making any sudden movements.

"Oh, really?" Grasshopper smirked, then looked at Raust, "Care to tell him what's wrong with what he just said?"

Raust whined inaudibly until Grasshopper slightly lowered the sword. Raust yelped.

"I'm a fake!" He shouted in a panic.

"A what!" A guard demanded in disbelief.

"A fake! A phony! Not the real thing! Not telling the truth!" Raust yelled, all his smugness and regal aura gone.

"He's also a perverted freak!" Cremia shouted.

"She's the real thing!" Raust sobbed, pointing to the Deku Princess.

The guards looked to the Deku princess. They immediately hung their heads in shame.

"We were fooled," One of them said, "I guess our positions as guards are now terminated..."

"What are you talking about!" The Deku princess squeaked, "You only did your job! It's not your fault if your job concerns helping pricks like Raust. Now do something virtuous with your jobs and take this Deku away!"

"Yes ma'am!" The guard said and they all took a whimpering Raust to the dungeon.

-

After all had been said and done in the fields, Grasshopper was presented in front of the Deku king himself.

"Words cannot express my gratitude for what you have done. I was skeptic about Raust being my son, but once my daughter went missing, I was frantic for what to do! All I cared about was my legacy, so I blindly allowed Raust to be prince... Can you forgive me, daughter?"

"It isn't the first time," The Deku princess said, smiling in a Deku way, "you made a decision without thinking over it."

Both Dekus looked at the monkey, remembering the whole ordeal surrounding him.

"Well," The King cleared his throat, "I am willing to give you anything to reward you for your efforts!"

"We're not interested in material wealth, sir." Cremia spoke up with nods from Grasshopper.

"Very well. I guess our eternal gratitude shall do for now."

With a wave, Grasshopper and Cremia began leaving the throne room. Grasshopper casually put a hand in his pocket by force of habit when his fingertips touched the pictobox still in his pocket. A light bulb in his head was switched on. Grasshopper turned around to face the Deku King.

"We might not want money, but perhaps you can all do us a favor..."

-

"Here's our pictograph!" Grasshopper said later to the pictographer.

"Well let's take a look-see here and- Wh-what!" The pictographer's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He immediately checked to see if this pictograph was tampered with. On the pictograph was a picture of Grasshopper and Cremia standing next to the Deku King and Deku Princess with the monkey on Grasshopper's shoulder holding up both hands in the 'V' sign.

"This is incredible! Unbelievable! Spectacular! You must've done something really special to have the Deku King pose in a pictograph for you!"

"I just asked for a favor." Grasshopper said with a mock-shrug.

"Well whatever, this most definitely deserves a spot on the wall of fame!"

The "wall of fame" was merely a wall in the building that had a picograph of merely the Deku King tacked on it. The pictographer walked over to this wall and tacked Grasshopper's pictograph to the wall.

"And your cash prize... here! 300 rupees!" The pictographer happily announced, dropping the bag in Grasshopper's hands.

"Wasn't your maximum prize 250 rupees?" Grasshopper asked, merely curious.

"I wouldn't dare dishonor the great skill of that pictograph by paying you a mere 250 rupees for presenting it to me! 300 rupees! No less!"

Grasshopper and Cremia both shrugged to each other.

"This money will keep the ranch well funded for a while!" Cremia said, the glow of the money reflecting off her eyes.

"I bet!" Grasshopper said, happy that he got a good pictograph. As they left the pictographer's building, Grasshopper looked to the sky, "What time do you think it is?"

"Oh, no later than seven o'clock," Cremia suggested, "we should get back. The ranch-sitters only agreed to look over the ranch for so long!"

"Okay, then hold on and I'll get us back!"

Cremia held on to Grasshopper's arm as he played the song of soaring. Like on the first trip, the same pair of wings took them up and into the air.

-

They landed in a dirt road leading to the Ranch. It was only a short walk from their location to the ranch. Being as the sun was sinking into the mountains, the scenery was really mood setting. They had eventually decided to stand by the owl statue and reminisce for a bit

"Well, I had fun!" Grasshopper said to break the silence.

"Me too," Cremia said, "despite all you had to go through and me almost being wed to a corrupt Deku."

"Yeah... I really made a difference today. Saving the Deku royalty from corruption and saving Koume from being Octo-bait. I just couldn't believe how I wielded the sword all to do such stuff; almost as if I was facing my destiny to help bring about peace."

"But… seriously…" Cremia muttered, getting very serious all of a sudden, "it was… very scary," her hair overshadowed her eyes as he edged toward Grasshopper, "I thought that perhaps… perhaps this was going to be it for me. I'd be wed to a… a Deku, of all things… then killed. You don't know how awful that was…"

Grasshopper had held her hand to try to be comforting, but it only ended up in her placing one hand on his shoulder and another rested lightly on his chest. She obviously did not have full control of them.

"However… I knew… I knew that you were alive and that you would come for me… I just knew."

At this point she had backed up Grasshopper nearly against a wall, but was still staring at wherever her head hung.

"S-seriously… I did what anybody else would have done in that situation!" Grasshopper stammered, cheeks ablaze.

"I know… It's just that I had such a strong feeling that you were gone, but an equally strong feeling you were going to come. I never would have felt that… with anybody else. Don't you understand?"

She, just as absentmindedly as before, had wrapped her arms around his neck and practically pinned him to the wall while gently giving very light sobs into his chest.

Grasshopper, on the other hand, had absolutely no clue about what he was going to do. If he refused this to Cremia, she would think that he didn't care for her at all, but if he allowed her to continue on this path… it could lead to… other things.

The "other things" nearly came to pass when Cremia had looked up to Grasshopper, her eyes very watery and deep. Almost reminiscent of his moment with Lulu before, she seemed to move in for a kiss. However, Grasshopper didn't need to do anything, for Cremia had, in the first place, intended to kiss him on the cheek. With such passion she kissed his cheek, though, as if it was his lips. How odd that that was the same cheek that Lulu had kissed, and, he couldn't be sure, maybe the same spot, too. It sent a pang of guilt through him that he never told anybody about that, but he was sure it was better off not told.

"C-c'mon… let's go." Grasshopper said, already sweating from hot skin, "Romani's waiting for us."

"Oh… yeah…" Cremia said equally as quietly, embarrassed at what she was just doing.

-

A plan to usurp the Deku throne has gone up in smoke as Grasshopper continues to search the world, desperate to find his true identity. It would seem that Cremia has a harder and harder time keeping control of herself and Grasshopper a harder time controlling his involuntary charm. The sun sets on another day as if the adventure never happened.


	6. Great Financial Sorrow

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 6: Great Financial Sorrow**

_The other masters have fallen; the only one left was the servant's master. If he ever saw that "hero," no matter what happened in-between that time and then…_

_He would show no mercy._

-

"Ungh."

"Get up! You work at this place, too!"

"Sleep..."

"All right, you asked for it!"

The younger sister of two, Romani had been trying to wake up Grasshopper, but their guest didn't seem to want to move. Romani took matters into her own hands by hopping onto the bed with a pot and ladle. She proceeded to bang the side of the pot, creating quite a noise. Grasshopper slowly opened his eyes and finally comprehended the scene.

He took his time, it seemed Romani enjoyed making the noise. Then, without warning, Grasshopper struck forward and grabbed both objects out of the girl's hands, causing her to yelp in surprise and fall backwards.

"Do you treat **all** guests in this manner?"

"Only the ones who, as I said, ask for it!"

Of course, there was no real hostility between them. It was just a thing between them to act like there was.

"Perhaps you should put this on your head before banging the side of it." Grasshopper said, turning the pot upside down and slowly lowered it, as if onto Romani's head.

"You wouldn't do that!"

"Only to the ones who, as you said, ask for it."

"That's not funny!"

Their moment came to a halt when they saw Cremia in the doorway shaking her head.

"Break it up, you two."

"S/he started it!" Both Romani and Grasshopper yelled, using the appropriate gender reference and thrusting a finger at the other.

"I don't care who started it, it's just as bad that the other person went along with it. You know how incorrigible he is! Now feed the chickens, as you should have done ten minutes ago."

"Ha. Cremia yelled at you." Grasshopper teased as Romani left the room.

"...And **you**," Cremia continued, glaring at Grasshopper, "are as responsible for the whole thing. Now that you're up, get dressed and I'll find something for you to do. We have to get busy!"

Odd. Cremia never really placed such emphasis on being punctual with work before. In fact, Cremia had been quite different lately. Somewhat on edge and making sure the Ranch turns a handsome profit. Grasshopper thought about this as he messily dressed.

His wrists started up their periodic itching and Grasshopper moved to take off the wristband that was most likely causing the itch. As the thought occurred, he suddenly got an impacting feeling deep in his stomach that removing the wristband was the absolute last thing he should ever do at any time. Why, he did not know. But anything came to the conclusion that anything he could not explain must have something to do with the past.

"Fine. Stay there." He muttered, keeping the wristband on and giving it a good stare before exiting his room.

-

The day after that was actually quite boring. All there was to it was work, work, and work. And the occasional Cremia's head popping in to assure herself that other people besides herself were working. It was when Cremia sent Grasshopper to deliver milk that fate intervened.

"I'm still a bit skeptical about the whole Multitask thing, but we get our pay much easier this way. But hear me out, Grasshopper. Once you deliver the milk, you're coming right back here, understand?"

"Yes'm..." Grasshopper muttered, desperate to get away.

"Good, now here's the milk."

"Quite a shipment this week... okay, got it nice and comfy," Grasshopper said, repositioning his upper body to play the Multitask. Soon, he was gone in a whoosh of feathers.

Grasshopper chose not to think about why Cremia was how she was as his thoughts turned to landing in Clock Town. He had yet to be spotted as he landed with feathers flying arbitrarily. Grasshopper decided to get right to work and go to the Milk bar. He appropriately walked to the building, receiving greetings along the way.

"Got a shipment of milk, here."

The manager of the Milk bar inspected the shipment and gave an approving nod. He then handed a bag in which payment came in.

"A little short, sir."

The manager looked at Grasshopper, "Oh, no. The economy in Clock Town has been declining over a while. Only recently has it grown to significant proportions. So I paid you less so I myself can keep the milk bar running. I'd buy some of that Gorman stuff. It's cheap, but it's totally rancid. I'm sure you can cope."

"I dunno," Grasshopper said, eyeing the bag, "Cremia's been on a profit warpath lately and I think coming up short of usual payments could earn me a golden scolding."

"No my fault, G. Taxes are up and everyone pays. The Mayor is under more heat than ever."

"Wonder if he'll be taken out of office."

"Hmm... Maybe."

Grasshopper left without buying any milk for himself. If what the manager said was true, the rupee pinching had to start now. Cremia would be furious. That does raise the question of why she wanted to earn money so much. Was the Ranch in debt? If so, she should just tell Romani and he... they could take it. These thoughts were abruptly put to an end when there was a huge THUD and Grasshopper looked up to the side and saw the Goron mailman resting his feet, the thud being his rump hitting the ground so abruptly.

"That must be a Goron." Grasshopper thought aloud, not seeing a Goron yet; or at least since he started keeping track of his life at least half a month ago.

"M'dogs are HOWLING!" The Goron yelled, lifting his feet and groaning with fatigue.

"Rough day?" Grasshopper asked, seeing whether Gorons were the friendly type.

"Ah, yes. The hills to the beach to the swamp and BACK to the beach, a boat ride to Cape Zora, and a RETURN visit to the swamp! This inn is my last stop and that is it for today!"

A casual glance to the side would reveal that the Stock Pot Inn was right next to the scene of conversation.

"Will it be nice to go home?"

"Oh, yes. Of course, I'm so tired that I think I'll have to stay the night before going out again! Wait... home! Oh, no!"

"What is it?"

"Th-the red enveloped letter! I completely forgot!"

The Goron took from his bag a letter that was indeed residing within a red envelope. It was sealed with a gold sticker and had ancient Goron script carved into the stationary.

"I was told to deliver it ASAP... but I got sidetracked and... ahh, crap! Guess the recipient will have to wait a couple more days."

Grasshopper sensed a chance to stall going back to the ranch and have a good excuse.

"I could do it."

"Do what?"

"Deliver the letter. I can travel instantaneously. Of course, the landing has to have some kind of owl-like statue or something; as experience dictates."

"Aah... I don't know about the whole 'traveling instantly' thing, but if you can deliver the letter, it would be ideal. The recipient is in my hometown in the mountains. Take the Northern Exit and you'll see the entrance to the mountainous region. If you can get past the Dodongos, that is."

"That won't be necessary." Grasshopper simply stated, taking the letter and the Multitask in a hand.

"Why won't it be-?" But before the Goron could finish, the song of soaring had started. The Goron merely watched as Grasshopper was swept upward into the air and disappeared.

"We postal workers sure could use one of those..."

-

As soon as Grasshopper landed down upon the owl statue in the mountains, the cold hit him very hard. He immediately began rubbing his arms and his teeth chattered chronically.

"B-better g-g-get this where it n-n-needs t-to be... s-s-s-s-soon!"

Grasshopper deposited the crimson letter into his pocket and was on his way. It wasn't long until his walk took him to a sign that pointed out the location of the specific Goron residence.

"Not too far."

It wasn't long until Grasshopper found himself crossing a bunch of bridges, making him wonder if that sign lied about the settlement being nearby. As in the fashion of all his mind wanderings, it was brought to a premature end as a howl pierced the silence.

Or a pair of howls, really. Grasshopper looked behind where he had been shortly to see two Wolfos who seemed to have been spawned from the fallen snow. They quickly surveyed the area and eventually their faces fell upon Grasshopper, who froze in his tracks. The Wolfos walked slowly toward their potential kill. A large "Thwack!" filled the air suddenly.

A mystery to all three, the Wolfos and Grasshopper all looked around to see where the noise came from. The answer came with an equally loud "Thwack!" All three of them were on the old, rickety bridge. Therefore, their weight equaled well over what the bridge could stand to support. The loud snaps were the roped breaking under pressure. With a final "Thwack!" the bridge entirely split in the middle and send all on it to the ice below. Grasshopper was able to land on the ice with good balance.

"I'm okay!" Grasshopper said, as if assuring someone, then seeing the Wolfos, "But so are they..."

Grasshopper wasted no time in taking his sword out. He also didn't waste any time in dropping it. His hand was so overwhelmed with cold that he simply could not hold his sword, rather move his blue-tinted hand! Uttering many profane words, Grasshopper looked at the fallen sword, then the approaching Wolfos. He got a view of one up-close as it struck, diving forward. Grasshopper wasn't quick enough and it tackled him to the ice. Grasshopper responded by using his frostbitten hands to punch the Wolfos' face. He didn't know whether his lack of feeling it was a good think or a bad thing. One he got up, he noticed he had been slashed across the chest. Great, there went another green tunic.

Grasshopper took his hands and folded them up in his shirt while keeping an eye on both foes. The second Wolfos took off at a charge and chomped on to Grasshopper's leg. That he certainly felt.

"Off! Off!" He yelled frantically as he finally kicked with enough force to get the Wolfos off. Blood from both wounds dripped and froze on the ice. "Now what...?" Grasshopper asked hopelessly. Unarmed and hands frozen into figurative stumps, things looked more down than ever.

"Banzai!"

The yell came from above. Before anyone could react, a huge spiked ball landed on one of the Wolfos, smashing it against the ice and making it look like it exploded. Fur and blood flew. The ball continued to roll around, piercing the ice with its spikes. The rolling spike ball made a full circle around the remaining Wolfos. It seemed this lap was just to show off, but the ball had actually made the ice the Wolfos was standing on disconnect from the rest of the frozen lake. The circle of ice turned over, trapping the Wolfos in sub-zero waters. It sank shortly.

"Wolfos... Slash and eat first, ask questions never." The spiked ball then un-balled to reveal a Goron. Despite the Goron's size, there was a surprising lack of deepness in his voice, indicating he wasn't an adult. "By the way, are you okay?"

"Err..." Grasshopper hesitated, thinking of how to answer considering **yes** he was not Wolfos food, but his hands weren't too good. "I appear to not be made for this climate."

"Eh? Oh, yes. It's funny. The mountains got to be this way due to the monster in the temple past the blizzard. However, The Blizzard subsided and the monster was defeated. The mountains began to revert, but it seemed these mountains were destined to stay this cold. We Gorons have gotten used to it, however."

"With all do respect, I find your people very interesting but I don't think I can stand upright much longer..."

With a shudder, Grasshopper succumbed to the cold and fell forward. He would have fallen right onto the ice had the Goron not caught him.

-

"Looks like your coming to, buddy."

Grasshopper awoke in a room where everything was made of stone, though he lay in a soft bed. In the center of the room was a fire and the Goron was next to the fire making himself comfortable.

"How long was I out?"

"Oh, not long. Right when I ignited the fire, you seemed all better. My name is Serf. With an 'e,' just so you know."

"Grasshopper."

"Where? In this weather?"

"No… my name. It's Grasshopper"

"Oh. Excuse me." Serf scratched the back of his head. He would have pointed out how odd Grasshopper's name was, but then again no Goron understood the names that Grasshopper's people gives.

"Eh, I get that everywhere. Even sometimes home."

"Hmm..." Serf hemmed, looking serious for the first time, "speaking of home, why were you away from home, and here especially?"

"I took it upon myself to deliver something." Grasshopper said truthfully.

"By chance... was it a letter?"

"Yes."

"A letter with a..." At this Serf was afraid to ask, "... red envelope?"

"Err... yes. Are you expecting one?"

"Indeed I am," Serf said with a wince, "if I could..."

"Oh, sure!" Grasshopper said, taking out the letter and handing it to Serf. Serf took it in a hurry and ripped the fine colored envelope, sparing no quarter until the letter was taken out and being read quite quickly.

There was a silence in which Serf's eyes ran over the paper faster then he had rolled over the Wolfos. Eventually Serf stopped reading and went right into a heavy sigh and slump.

"They moved up the deadline before the races..."

Grasshopper knew nothing of what Serf meant, so it was an impulse to ask what's up.

"It's a bit of a story, but I guess you have the time," Serf cleared his throat needlessly, "the Goron government wasn't always like this. 'What government,' you ask? Exactly. We had the idea of monarchy just like ancient times. The thing is that Gorons don't do monarchy. It was a miracle we got through so many generations using this way of life. I have always pursued a life in Goron racing. Lately, I've gotten quite good, or so I'm told. The thing is that you need to register to be a Goron racer and I was on a lower rung of society. Therefore, I didn't possess the money to register. The registry period was running out fast and I didn't know what to do."

"That is until I hear word of the 'Goron Financial Society or the GFS.' Call them whatever you want, they are an underground group dedicated to illegitimate actions when it comes to money. They loaned people money and expected the money back on certain dates. So, not knowing anything else to do, I got a loan and made a deal to pay on the day after the race. See, I earn my money from the race and paid back the loan."

"But then our ruler was overthrown and we settled into a nice, peaceful new order in which we care for ourselves, and that is what Gorons are all about. Ever since then, the Goron races themselves now accept loans, being paid later or deducting it from your winnings. If only things were available sooner, I would not be in this mess...!"

"...And the GFS moved up your deadline?" Grasshopper inquired, the sense of justice in him doing a characteristic boost.

"Yeah. They say due to this new order they are about to make a 'significant purchase' and my monetary return would be 'most appreciated,' or in other words, required. I don't have a rupee to my name, you see. They moved the deadline to before the races, tomorrow. The race is in two days. The original deadline was in three days from now, though I was told to be expecting a letter with a red envelope. Oh, what is a Goron to do!"

"I'd just ask them to move the date back to where it originally was."

"The GFS! No way. If I did say anything like that, those would be the last words that come from my mouth before I'm socked hard in the face!"

"Really? Well, I'm sure I can help. I'm kind of known for that in places I've been."

"Well, I'm not too sure about that. I bet you haven't been up against a mob of violent Gorons, have you?"

"Are Gorons typically bigger than you?"

"Way bigger."

"That could prove to be significant in my chances of helping, but I haven't gone this far just to be presented with such a problem and not do anything. I say we go right there and ask- no, demand that the due date in reset!"

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"Tell me something I'm **not** told on a daily basis."

-

"I can't believe we're doing this." Serf had said repeatedly while leading Grasshopper and himself to the "hideout" of the GFS.

"Relax. There will probably be more difficult things in life ahead."

"That's very assuring."

"It's most likely the truth."

The entrance to the hideout was a cave opening with a huge boulder covering it up. It seemed like nothing could dwell in this place due to the lack of access. Serf tapped the boulder and it gave a hollow thump when hit in three times succession. A part of the boulder slid away, revealing two sinister Goron eyes.

"What business have you here?"

"I require meeting with your heads to discuss internal matters." Serf proclaimed in an awkwardly businesslike tone.

"Come in..." The owner of the eyes muttered as the boulder suddenly rolled on its own and revealed the entrance to the cave. The Goron they were talking to moments ago appeared to have never existed.

Reconsiderations blazed through both people's heads as they walked forward into the domain. Eventually they were in too far and had to bite the arrow now, so to speak. It wasn't long before a door was reached. Another pair of eyes told them to stay put.

"You could leave now," Serf said, "I'm the one who needs to speak to them."

"No," Grasshopper said firmly, "if, goddesses forbid, the GFS heads decided to commit physical persuasion, I want to be there to put a stop to it."

"You? What can you possibly do?"

"Just so you know, those are some famous last words of people who think I'm not out of the ordinary."

"Right..."

The door opened and Grasshopper and Serf shuffled in awkwardly. They came to a smoky room dominated by a huge table and give menacing figures, all in Goron-sized suits and wearing shades, making Grasshopper wonder why one wears shades in a cave.

"Well, Serf," began the largest one, none of the five even breathed differently on Serf's arrival, "I hope you brought with you gifts. Ones that are diamond shapes and most of the colors of the rainbow...?"

"We all know that just isn't possible at the moment," Serf said sternly, "and that is, any moment before the conclusion of the races tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, Serf?" Another of the GFS heads said with a chuckle from all five following, "Our significant purchase is tonight. Your registration money had made it so we are slightly short on our purchase and we all know whose fault it is."

"Yes, but," Serf stammered, the feeling of losing the five Gorons strong, "our deal was made without the purchase in mind! I know I can pay back the money with the monetary prize the races grant, but I can't win that money a day early! I need more time!"

"More time!" The smallest Goron piqued, his voiced being at such a high tone that it was almost comical, "The GFS doesn't do 'more time.' We move back the date of your payment, we force our suppliers to move back the day of our purchase and so on. You will turn a whole system topsy-turvy."

"As long as the effects aren't that big, it doesn't matter, right?" Serf argued.

"It's the principle," A Goron hidden in the shadows said, only his red eyes shown through the shadows, numbed by his shades, "we delay, get a bad reputation for waiting, no one wants to do business with us, you pay the difference in pain."

"Pain!" Serf echoed, a bead of sweat going down the side of his head, contradicting the cold surroundings.

"Yes," The last, most generic looking Goron of the five said sinisterly, "and about that date re-installation? Denied. Actually, you barging in here without an appointment requires a bit of 'payment,' as it is."

Some of the Gorons broke stride and faced toward Grasshopper and Serf. Serf, more specifically. The blow had come before anybody could sense it in any way. The Goron with the red eyes had leapt from his position and had punched Serf hard in the face. Serf held his hand over his bleeding nose.

"Well…" The GFS member that had struck at Serf said, "You've got some tough defenses there."

"I do," Serf said, starting to back away, "but I think there is a more civilized way to resolve this!"

"Well, there isn't."

As if on cue, the door got covered in bars and the parts of the floor closest to the walls fell away to strand the even individuals on a high, flat-topped space.

"Here's how it goes, Serf." The most generic GFS said, "If you are so good at the Goron roll, then we shall have a contest. The five of us versus you. We shall all roll around on this narrow area and whomever gets knocked off first, you or all five of us, will lose. Allow me to show you."

At once a different GFS shot off and smashed the little Goron so that he tumbled down the chasm, screaming in an undignified manner.

"Got it?"

Serf nodded slowly and Grasshopper backed up to the closest edge a bit.

"Yeah..."

All at once the GFS came at him.

-

Serf immediately rolled up and started along the edge of the area at an automatic full-charged roll. By the time he left that spot, the GFS's had reached it and all swerved to avoid a four-way collision. Unfortunately for the most generic GFS Goron, he had swerved the wrong way and rolled strait off the edge of the raised platform. There was a huge thud upon the Goron's landing. Grasshopper, in the meanwhile, had looked at the small-house sized Goron. After the first dash, he had stopped rolling and stood there, watching the rest of the drama unfold around him. Something was up.

Serf began a circle around the risen area right on the edge. One must understand how it takes a great deal of concentration and balance to stay on the edge. That is why when the two Gorons gave chase along the same path, one of them lost balance and gravity seemed greater on the chasm side of the Goron. In other words, he fell and went boom. There were just two GFS left, if you counted the large-in-Goron-standards GFS who remained motionless.

"One left." Serf muttered as he lapped around.

"And yet," The remaining GFS yelled over the noise of the Goron rolls, "you will find me more difficult than when I was accompanied."

Grasshopper squinted to see the Goron's face and saw he was the one who kept to the shadows and his red eyes glowed through his sunglasses.

"Something's off about him..."

To confirm Grasshopper's insecurities, the Shadowy one suddenly rolled at a one-second pace that seemed tenfold compared to Serf's. Serf, unable to react immediately, had to roll on a dime to avoid collision.

"He's fast!" Serf yelled to no one in particular.

"That I am." The GFS merely said before zooming off in an opposite direction, then proceeding to take off in random directions with physics-defiant speed.

As Serf began going, the GFS kept cutting him off and making Serf go off in unprepared directions. Sometimes Serf had to turn twice to prevent falling off.

"He keeps cutting me off, but he never goes ahead and rams me... why? Unless..." Serf's train of thought lead him to believe in an action that he had to do or else he could never earn his original payment date. Serf started on an unwavering path.

"Do you ever learn?" The GFS demanded and zipped right in front of Serf.

"In fact, I do," Serf yelled and barreled right into the GFS, causing him to smash into the wall and consequently, off the platform, "I learned that you intended on making me lose to my own self by thinking you had a strong bone in your body! You are good at mind games, but your brain is your only strong muscle!"

"That's it, Serf!" Grasshopper shouted from his position.

"This ends now..." The big Goron muttered.

"Serf, heads up!" Grasshopper, hearing the big Goron, shouted to Serf.

"Huh?"

Before Serf could react appropriately, the big Goron had jumped in the air and slammed the surface of the platform with his hard landing, causing a visible wave to ripple. Grasshopper, seeing this coming, jumped. Serf, however, was not so lucky. Caught off guard, the wave took him and tossed him off.

"Serf!" Grasshopper shouted, in disbelief that it happened so quickly.

"I win!" Big yelled, both arms thrust into the air.

"No, you haven't," Grasshopper shouted suddenly. He leapt forward and faced Big with his sword drawn, "you still have me to contend with!"

There was a long silence that grew a bit awkward. To break the silence, Big burst out laughing.

"You! What can you possibly do, little man!"

"I can do a lot more than you think!" Grasshopper said, not even sure himself if he was scared.

"Fine! Do what you can!" Big said, still smirking.

Not allowing Grasshopper to draw first blood, Big swiped forward with a massive arm. He entirely did not expect Grasshopper to leap up and strike forward with his sword. Big staggered back and gave a nasty look. He accompanied that with wiping some of his own blood off of his lip.

"So that's how you want to play! Fine with me!"

Big rolled up and shot at Grasshopper. Grasshopper yelped and swept to the side. Not dropping in speed at all, Big turned with as much agility as Serf had and continued his intended assault. Grasshopper stood in Big's path and at the last second, dodged and swiped his sword. The sword hit Big and caused him to wobble off balance and land on his side much like a Frisbee when not caught. He got up, very angry.

"You irk me. Therefore, you deserve to become a splat on my wall!"

Big followed up by beginning a roll. But rather than advancing like all Goron rolls do, he rotated in place. This was a form of charging up his roll so that when he released himself, he would go at an unrecorded speed and most likely decimate anything in his path. In short time he was building up so much momentum that his wheel form became gigantic, kicked up entirely too much dust, and the roar of his roll was deafening.

"I can't dodge this..." Grasshopper said as he watched the display in horror.

Without warning, Big went forward. He went forward as such a speed that he ripped the stone right off the pillar when he ran over it and caused the indentation he made to fly up merely to retain its solid form.

In a moment of pure doomed instinct, Grasshopper threw his arms in front of himself. Or at least most would think of it as a dying gesture. Not even Grasshopper was aware that the armband on his wrist began to shine a glow that bathed the entire area in light for a brief moment. All Grasshopper heard was the deafening rushing and then a slam right behind him.

"What the...?"

Grasshopper turned around and saw Big embedded into the wall behind him, rear sticking out. Big then slid out of his hole and cascaded to the room's floor.

"He must have missed." Grasshopper deducted. It was a hypothesis completely without proof. For one, Grasshopper wasn't a moving target. Two, Big had hit the wall as if he had gone through Grasshopper completely. Something happened, but Grasshopper hadn't time to think about it.

-

"After the races, then?"

After a very short negotiation, Serf closed the deal on his payment. Though he had no glory to his name in what had happened earlier, he still had to keep a tough appearance for the GFS, who were busy tending to their wounds than to entirely listen.

"Yeah, yeah." A GFS muttered in a frustrated way, "

Not wanting to enrage the GFS further, Grasshopper and Serf left the cave and emerged into the winter wonderland.

"I can't believe!" Serf yelled, fists in air, "Now I can finally relax until the end of the Goron races!"

"...But don't you have to WIN the Goron races, first?" Grasshopper asked, trying not to be a downer, but realistic.

"Hah. That is such a little problem."

"You seem confident in your abilities."

"I have good reason! Speaking of abilities, though. How did you defeat the big guy? All I remember is falling after that cheap trick."

Grasshopper scratched his head, "I don't quite understand it, myself, really. He rolled at me and fell down a second later."

"He missed, then?"

"No, no... I don't know how to describe it. He came at me, but then hit my location... but not me."

"You're right... you don't know how to describe it."

"Fact remains, you still have a chance at life."

"Right, and I fully intend to take advantage of it. It's just that, I don't know. Maybe I need to train a bit and have some moral support when the time comes."

"Are you asking me to stay for a while longer?"

"I'll be blunt; yes. Frankly, you're the only person to go near me after I was placed in debt."

"I see," Grasshopper was about to refuse, but then imagined himself being ordered around back at the Ranch and wishing he had stayed with Serf, "then I'll just have to accept."

"Yes!" Serf yelled, "Let's get training!"

"Actually, it's night. 'Let's get sleeping!'"

"Er-" Serf muttered, looking up at the starry sky, "Correct, you are."

-

Back at Serf's house, Serf had something to eat (battling Gorons makes you hungry, even if you're dead tired) while Grasshopper made out a postcard to the Ranch. It was merely a pictograph of the mountain with the words "wish you were here" on it along with a brief letter summarizing what he was doing there. He then took out the Multitask.

"Let's see if I got this..."

Grasshopper carefully played the Song of SoaringAs soon as he finished, Grasshopper then pointed the Multitask at the postcard and the postcard alone was sent by a pair of wings.

"My guess," Serf said with a mouthful of rocks, "it that you'd have to well know what you're doing to be able to do that. With the instrument, and all."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I've grown quite skilled with it; as if it were made specifically for me..."

"Fascinating. Well, we'd better get to sleep with a whole day of training tomorrow!"

"I concur, Serf. Good night."

"Night, G."

As Grasshopper drifted to sleep, he realized how everyone seems to call him 'G;' even though they never heard that nickname before. Probably because saying 'Grasshopper' was probably an awkward thing to do and 'G' was the first thing to pop into people's minds.

-

So, in his traditional sense of sticking his nose where it does not belong, Grasshopper has made Termina ever so slightly a better place. Yet, the day's adventure could not be contained within one day. So as the sun sets on that day, the adventure will resume.


	7. The Goron Races

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 7: The Goron Races**

_A calm before the storm. That "hero" was only toying with them now. When would he come? How would he come? What would his plan of attack be, for he will, no doubt, come in fighting rather than trying to solve things in a peaceful manner. When he comes, no matter in which way, shape, or form…_

_He will be ready_

-

The morning sun rose and it was Grasshopper who was the first to wake. He ignited the fireplace and looked out the window. He wasn't as miserable as he was before, for his body had slightly adjusted to the low temperatures. Still, having the fireplace lit didn't hurt.

"Today's the day!"

Grasshopper looked behind him and saw that Serf woke up not too long after he did. The young Goron started to do stretches, arching the back and stuff, which made sense due to the rolling nature of the races.

"Feeling confident?"

"I sure am! I've been practicing for the races practically all my life! I've trained hard to be like my hero, Darmani!"

"Darmani was a great racer, I am betting."

"Yeah… but one day we all noticed that the temple near the Owl Statue had a really bad snowstorm around it. Darmani went in to investigate… but never came out."

"I'm sorry… that didn't happen… during a period of three days when the moon was odd, was it?"

"Actually, yes. Maybe a little bit before, but ballpark, anyway."

"Fascinating…"

"Well!" Serf said at last, giving one final arms-out stretch, "I'm ready for some practice!"

-

Grasshopper and Serf arrived at the starting line of the track that was to be used in the Goron race happening later that day. Grasshopper looked around at all the large Gorons talking, laughing, swapping stories and even strategies, for although Goron racing is a competitive sport, Gorons were generally not the spiteful type. It was nice to see some good sportsmanship for once.

After waiting in a short line, it was Serf's turn to take a test run down the track.

"Where's the finish?" Grasshopper asked, looking around.

"The track is generally a downhill one, so it's at the bottom of this hill. Per this, if you look over there," Serf pointed toward a large wooden platform, "you will see the elevator, which is what it is. It will follow the racers down the hill and eventually stop near the finish line."

"That's convenient."

A large voice boomed, "Would the next racer get in position for his test run?"

"I'll see you at the bottom," Grasshopper said as he walked toward the elevator, "just do your best!"

"You know I will!" Serf called back as he got into position. There was a countdown and once it ended, Serf rolled up into a ball and took off down the track.

At the same time, the elevator started to descend. Grasshopper looked and saw how, as a whole, the track was rather in the shape of a spiral constantly tilting to the right, save a few straight parts. Serf was going full tilt, so much so that the elevator had to speed up to keep up. At the end, Grasshopper got off the elevator and a few seconds later, Serf finished the run.

"That was great!" Grasshopper called as Serf unrolled, "I don't now Goron racing, but I can tell that you did a fantastic job!"

"You really think so?" Serf asked, with a closed-eyed grin and scratching the back of his head.

A Goron keeping track of time wrote something down, then walked over to a board and tacked whatever he wrote on to that board.

"What's that?" Grasshopper asked as they approached it.

"Well," Serf began, "there's a Goron keeping track of time whenever a racer does a test run. He records the time and compares it to other times taken, only one per racer and only the best one is kept on the board. This way, we know what we are up against."

"Sounds fun."

They approached the board and saw Serf's name next to the numbers "10:13." It seemed that all the times were arranged that the best one be on top, and that one was Serf's. The next best time was 11:35.

"This is perfect!" Grasshopper proclaimed as they read the times, "If you've beaten the next competitor by a whole minute, you should have nothing to worry about!"

"Yeah," Serf beamed, "but I was alone that time. Speed is only half of the race, the other half is trying to bump into the other racers to mess them up, so a fast time can mean little if you're spun out at the start."

Grasshopper merely nodded, thinking about how interesting Goron racing was and that he wished that he could be a Goron for just one race and see how it is. Their proud moment ended when a large commotion was heard from above, at the starting point to be specific.

"What's going on up there?" Grasshopper asked.

"I don't know," Serf said, craning his head up, "but we can just take the elevator and be back up there in no time."

-

One elevator ride later, Grasshopper and Serf beheld an interesting sight: a large group consisting of every specie in Termina, save Gerudos. They seemed to be gathering around something in the center of their circle.

"Just what is stirring up so much commotion?" Grasshopper asked, impatient.

"Only one way to find out." Serf said before sifting through the crowd, repeatedly saying "excuse me, pardon me" and the like.

Once they made their way into the center they saw a Goron. Due to the fuss, this wasn't any ordinary Goron, for people were asking him of his autograph and begging him to beg for pictobox pictures. He didn't seem to shine either way toward all this attention. He looked about Serf's size and had an odd circular mark on his forehead.

"Who is that?" Grasshopper inquired of a Goron next to him, wearing a hat that looked almost like the popular Goron's mark.

"What, did you hit your head or something?" The Goron demanded, a comment that Grasshopper rolled his eyes at and waited for a real response, "This is Wheeler, the most popular Goron racer in Termina! Recently, the sport has gotten very popular and racetracks are everywhere! Wheeler has raced in and beaten all the competition in all of those tracks, and now he has come to his final destination in the mountains! If he wins here, he will have officially beaten all tracks and be undefeated!"

"That's pretty impressive…" Grasshopper mused, starting to wonder if Wheeler was entering in the coming race, "Serf, did you know about this guy?"

"Yeah…" Serf muttered, "First, I thought he was merely a legend… then I thought that maybe he wouldn't come during this race. Funny I'd be wrong on both accounts, huh?"

"'Funny' isn't exactly the word I'm thinking of…"

"How right you are…"

Both Grasshopper and Serf turned around to see a familiar group of underground Gorons, the GFS.

"What do you guys want?" Serf demanded.

"Only to see the legendary Wheeler at work," The generic GFS said, "your implied accusations wound us."

"We also bring a warning," the largest one, the one Grasshopper had to deal with, said, "if all the hype about Wheeler is true, then you are in for a hell of a fight… for you need to beat him in the coming race… there is no second chance."

"… I know." Serf said, looking back at Wheeler fending off fans.

"Just a fair warning." The shadowy GFS said. The five of them walked over to get a better view of Wheeler.

"They didn't really seem to be jerks about it, did they?" Grasshopper asked.

"No…" Serf said, "I think we've earned a bit of respect after yesterday. Besides, it's not like they don't want me to win, them getting the money is ideal for them."

Grasshopper nodded, "Hey, I think Wheeler is about to do a test run of the track. We ought to watch."

"I'm almost afraid." Serf muttered, but they both went to the elevator anyway.

-

Unfortunately, Wheeler had completed the run in record time, "9:08" to be exact.

"That's nuts!" Grasshopper exclaimed after seeing Wheeler's time placed neatly above Serf's, "he beat you by a whole minute and more, right after you did that to the next person in line!"

"The GFS was right… for once." Serf said, folding his arms, "I have my work cut out for me… unless…" Serf seemed reluctant to complete the though.

"Unless what?" Grasshopper asked slowly, sensing something amiss.

"Maybe Wheeler is charitable. I could ask him to go easy, that way I can win with no worries." Serf finished this thought with plenty of disdain.

"It's worth a try."

The group of fans had dissipated, so Serf took the opportunity to approach Wheeler.

"Mister Wheeler, sir?" Serf asked, not knowing how Wheeler was.

"'Wheeler' is fine." Wheeler responded, looking to Serf, his glance telling him he wasn't stuck up.

"Oh, okay. Wheeler, I want to ask you something."

"As long as it isn't an autograph, I'm all ears."

"A-actually, my name is Serf… I'm racing in the coming race."

"Ah!" Wheeler said, now full attention on Serf, "I saw your name on the scoreboard… second place after me. You have a fine time, indeed."

"Thanks…" Serf hesitated, he looked back to Grasshopper, who nodded, "I must tell you that… certain circumstances hover over this race… for that reason… I ask you to win, at the most, second place."

"Pardon me?" Wheeler asked, folding his arms.

"Listen!" Serf said quickly, which was needless, for Wheeler had already given a customary silence for listening, "I, I'm in debt to an underground society of Gorons who deal with monetary issues. I could be in a lot of trouble if I don't get the prize money for this race."

Wheeler looked off into the distance, then to Serf, "You are asking me to lose my title of being undefeated on purpose? Serf… I have not worked so hard on being the greatest Goron racer in Termina just to have it shattered by a mere plight. The honor of Goron racing would be shattered if word got out. Sorry, I just cannot do that."

Wheeler gingerly walked away as Grasshopper approached, "How selfish! Doesn't he know that this is a matter of life and death!"

"No," Serf interjected, holding up a hand, "he's justified… Goron racing has a large amount of honor in it, an honor that we Gorons hold very sacred. Do not hold any harsh feelings toward Wheeler… I just need to train harder to win, that's all it means."

Grasshopper scratched the back of his head and looked to Wheeler's retreating form, "If you say so… I know a thing or two about honor, and to dash it is certainly not befitting of either of us."

-

There were still two hours before the race, and Serf spent all of it training to beat Wheeler. He had gone down the track in practice a very large amount of times, yet the best he could do was "10:02."

Serf sighed when he saw this, "It's no use… how can I win if Wheeler will just get too far ahead to do anything?"

Grasshopper narrowed his eyes into the distance, then muttered, "Whenever I am backed up… I try to think outside the box."

"Outside? As in… cheating?"

"No! No!" Grasshopper quickly and loudly insisted, "I'd never! I just try to think of something that my opposition would never expect. I mean, the rulebook can not specifically allow it, but if it also doesn't not allow it, then it should be fair game, you get what I'm saying, right?"

"Kind of…" Serf said, scratching his head, "You're saying that as long as we all abide by the same rules, there is nothing I can do… but if I tried something unexpected…" They both thought on this for a second, "we roll up, we zoom down the hill… not much I can make a variation on that. I'm going up again."

"Right. Good luck."

-

Serf's next run was rather reckless. He went fast, but hit a lot of walls and risked falling off of the bridges a lot. Grasshopper knew this wasn't the answer. The recklessness came back to bite Serf when he ran over a rather hard rock, bouncing up and landing on his back. Grasshopper demanded the elevator stopped, then got off and went to Serf.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine."

Grasshopper sighed, "I don't know if what you were doing was right."

"I know. I just… wish I knew of some way to mix things up and do Goron racing differently."

"I hear you, may-"

Grasshopper was cut off when he had stepped on to a rather icy part of the track. With a lot of yelps, he fell on to the ice and slide down until the ice stopped and came for a landing in the soft snow. Serf had run over and caught up shortly.

"Are you okay? Wow, déjà vu."

"Funny."

Serf hadn't paid attention to the snide remark, for he had taken to looking at the ice, to Grasshopper, then to the ice again.

"I don't suppose you'd do that again?"

"Pardon me? There is no part of that fall I'd like to relive."

Serf folded his arms, indicating that he wasn't trying to tease, that he really was going somewhere with this.

"Well," Grasshopper said, "if anybody is going to go down the ice again, it had better be you."

"I just might." Serf said with a smirk.

-

After what seemed like an eternity of tough training on a new strategy, the race finally came. Grasshopper assumed his many-times position in the elevator next to some spectators and the horde of Wheeler fans. Serf walked up to the starting line, right next to Wheeler.

"Um, Wheeler?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about earlier… I just thought it wouldn't hurt to ask, you know?"

"I know… I probably would have done the same thing. Even though I sympathize with you, that doesn't mean I'll go any easier on you."

"I never expected you to. May the best Goron win?"

"May the best Goron win."

Grasshopper grinned at that display. It seemed everything was smoothed over between the two, if it even needed smoothing over. At the very last second, none other than the GFS made their appearance on the large wooden platform, all looking at Grasshopper as they passed. They made their way to the back of the elevator and waited. Eventually, the Goron announcing the start of the race came up, and after explaining a bunch of rules, surveyed the scene.

"On your marks…"

All the racers stood firmly on the starting line.

"Get ready…"

Some Gorons held their arms in the air, so as to roll up forward easier. Some others turned around and crouched down, for some Gorons roll going backwards. They were all ready to roll up and shoot forward.

"Go!"

-

Once the pop signifying the race rang, all the Gorons took off at fast speeds. The first part of the race was a spiral around the track leaning to the right. All the racers were in a general pack that was spreading out. It seemed all the racers were trying to build up speed to avoid being bumped off. Unfortunately for one racer, he seemed to try to attempt to cut through the group, but instead got bumped out himself, there was a metallic "clang" followed by a shocked yell as the ousted racer fell on his back. He was quickly forgotten as the focus of the spectators shifted back to the front of the race.

The rest of the spiral was uneventful, so a definite pattern was seen by the time the racers reached a straight part of the path. At this time, the racers were all spaced apart, Serf and Wheeler a bit of distance from the third place racer. Grasshopper noticed how all the other racers got caught in the crash and bash of Goron racing collisions, but the two in lead wove their way through the chaos and ended up on top, leaving the other racers to mess each other up.

It seemed most if not all the attention turned to the two racers up front. It seemed Wheeler had tired himself out a bit by going too fast to get ahead of the other Gorons, for it seemed that he was slowing down. Serf took advantage of this and tried to hit Wheeler at an angle so as to make him spin out. Wheeler got hit once, then got the hint and nudged a bit to the left to avoid Serf's hits. Serf persisted, for he knew that things would only get more difficult if he didn't knock Wheeler out of the race. He rammed forward again, but suddenly Wheeler made a burst of speed. Serf boosted forward with nothing to keep him from the edge. There was a commotion among the spectators as Serf's fall seemed imminent, but some quick and agile turning kept him on the track. Grasshopper breathed a sigh of relief. These two were putting in their all and then some.

After the next rightward spiral, there was another straight path and a little bit of a drop. Prior, a racer had tried to cut ahead of Serf and Wheeler by boosting powerfully and going in a straight path, in between the other two and the wall. Unfortunately for him, he could not regain balance and ended up careening over the edge of the track. Nobody was worried, for it would take more than a several story fall to do in a Goron. The slight drop was reached and due to their approaching it at an angle, Serf and Wheeler barely felt a thing. Other racers, however, had hit the end of the drop at a pure vertical angle and the impact was felt up their spine. The shock was so intense, they involuntarily unrolled.

The rest of the race was as such, with only a few racers left besides the two up front. Due to some back-and-forth ramming action between them, they had slowed down considerably until the rest of the racers had all but caught up. Serf and Wheeler were in close proximity to each other, but still rolling forward at fantastic speeds.

"You get away from Wheeler!" One of the Wheeler fans demanded from the elevator.

"Yeah, you don't know what you're messing with! You have no chance and you never will!" Another fan yelled.

Grasshopper couldn't believe these people. Here the racers were all gracious and good sports, but these fans were displaying such malice.

"Let's go, Serf!" Grasshopper shouted, his cheer piercing through the Wheeler fans' jeers, "Your cause is the greatest of them all! We all know that competition is about you winning, not others losing, so give it your all a win!"

In the large rolling ball somewhere, Serf smiled. He never really let the jeers get to him, but to know how hard Grasshopper is pulling for him in any way, shape, or form was really inspiring. The final stretch of the race, a downhill slope with several icy lines, was breached and all racers were going at full tilt. Grasshopper grinned, for soon it was Wheeler who was going to be in trouble. As they descended down the hill, Wheeler had an undeniable yet narrow lead over Serf. All the racers barreled down the final stretch, all hoping that the downhill factor would favor them, but they all went at the same accelerated speed. That is, until one of them unrolled.

The one who unrolled was Serf. There was a murmur about the crowd when he did this. He did it in a way that, as he unrolled, his feet did not touch the ground. Once they did touch the ground, they landed on a strip of ice. From there, he turned his body so that one side was facing forward and the other backward, but he still had his head looking forward. The downhill slop and the momentum he had already built up made him slide across the grass at a very fast pace, even faster than Wheeler's rolling. This was the technique he and Grasshopper had been practicing. Grasshopper even made up the pose to cut down wind resistance. There were howls of protest from the Wheeler fans.

"That's not allowed in the rules!"

"Yes," Grasshopper said, too proud to be irritated, "but is it specifically forbidden? Unrolling, usually, means you are out, but it's not official, is it?"

The Wheeler fans were silent.

Back on the track, the sliding Serf cast a look to Wheeler and both racers knew that this was going to be close. As soon as the ice stopped, Serf jumped, rolled, and continued toward the finish. All that was left between the two and the finish was a short level path. Both racers barreled forward at fantastic speeds, so much so that yells of effort were heard from both of them. Serf was ahead and Wheeler was slowly gaining.

"He's going to pass him before they reach the finish!" No on in particular shouted.

Grasshopper willed it with all his heart that it didn't come to pass. Thirty yards… Wheeler was a Goron's length from Serf. Twenty yards… Wheeler was directly behind Serf. Ten yards… Wheeler was coming up from Serf's side.

"Come on…" Grasshopper hissed, clenching his fists so that they turned white.

There was a bright flash as the pictographer capturing the end of the race snapped the pictograph. Serf and Wheeler both unrolled as they crossed the finish, gasping for air after all their effort.

-

After a bit of resting, the pictographer's picture finally came into focus. The race was so close that the pictograph was required to know who won. The pictographer approached the crowd.

"What do you think?" Grasshopper asked Serf.

"I honestly do not know." Serf gasped, still a bit out of breath.

They both cast a look to where Wheeler sat, surrounded by his fans and obviously annoyed to no end by them.

"Well!" All eyes turned to the group of the pictographer and judge, who approached a podium ceremoniously, the judge speaking, "This race certainly is the closest one ever since… well, ever! However, it is not too close to tell! Will Wheeler and Serf both step up?"

Grasshopper gave a pat on the back and Serf walked up to the podium, Wheeler following.

"Both you gentlemen have displayed true valor and skill today in this fantastic display. In a perfect world, you would both win. However, such is not the nature of Goron racing. This pictograph, when looked at closely, reveals the true winner."

All ears were open expectantly.

"I do declare that winner of the mountains Goron track race to be Serf!"

The cheers of the unbiased racing fans well smothered over the moans and "boo"s of the Wheeler fans. Grasshopper shouted, "Yes!" and pumped his hand into the air. Serf put a hand over his heart and gave a frail sigh of relief. The GFS, all the way in the back, clapped politely.

"Your prizes, sir."

Serf looked as he was given a medal, and most importantly, a bag with the prize money. Serf held up both items to the racing fans, which cheered louder for this.

"He does not deserve those!" A Wheeler fan shouted, "He cheated!"

There was a row of agreeing murmurs among the fans. Both Serf and Grasshopper gave exasperated sighs, the moment being absolutely ruined. Wheeler, however, seemed to have snapped from some unseen force.

"Will you all shut the hell up!" Wheeler shouted, a big emphasis on the last four words. All were silent, "There was no cheating! All that went on in that track was a well-played legitimate race! It's what went on off the track that angers me! I only reluctantly agreed to have my own fan club follow me around, but at every location you people keep shouting these obscene acts of poor sportsmanship! Do you know that all that has given me a bad reputation! Well, I'm through! Yes, it hurts that I lost, but I feel assured in knowing that it was to the most deserving Goron in all of Termina!"

There was a pause, one that Serf took to say, "Thank you."

The stunned audience gave Wheeler time to walk over to Serf, "Seeing all the courage you displayed today gave me the courage to stand up to those fans of mine who do not understand the honor in Goron racing. I guess we both learned something new from all this."

Serf nodded with a smile. He shifted both items he held to one hand and used the free one to lift one of Wheeler's arms in a show of sportsmanship. The entire crowd applauded or cheered.

-

The GFS was quietly conversing when Serf and Grasshopper approached them.

"Here," Serf said, holding out the bag to one of them, "keep the change… think of it as interest."

The GFS who received the bag looked inside and immediately knew that the debt was repaid, "Interest? I must admit, you are not half bad. You could even make a good GFS member one day."

"Yeah, right. I'll settle for being the best Goron racer."

The GFS made an amused mouth noise, then turned around, "Come along boys, our transaction with Serf has concluded."

As a whole, the GFS turned and left the track.

"They're not so mean, after all." Grasshopper remarked, "Just needed to be the 'tough guys.'"

"I guess." Serf said. In the same fashion, both Serf and Grasshopper turned and exited the opposite way that the GFS had.

-

There had been a little party afterward with plenty of rocks and something for the non-Goron member of the party, Grasshopper. Once everything had died down, Grasshopper looked to the sky and at the sun.

"What's up?" Serf asked, gulping down the last of his sirloin boulder.

"Perhaps I ought to be heading back to the ranch, you know, the place I told you I take residence."

"Ah." Serf responded, a little disappointed that Grasshopper had to leave, but understanding that he had to go home.

"Well…" Grasshopper muttered, never really getting the hang of "good-byes."

"Just… thank you for everything." Serf said with a wide smile, "I don't think I need to explain all that you've done for me. I'm sure Wheeler's a bit sore about what happened, but he's a nice guy, I'm sure he'll understand."

Grasshopper nodded. Life can't all be spectacular victories. You win some, you lose some. That is how the game of life is played. A round of hand shaking and parting salutations later, Grasshopper played the Song of Soaring and a pair of wings took him from the mountains.

-

When he landed near the owl statue on the path leading to the Romani Ranch, Grasshopper hung back a bit. In comparison, the mild climate was rather warm. He intended no disrespect to the Gorons, but it was rather nice after being slightly cold or cool for so long. He was also afraid of how Cremia would react to, first of all, lying to her about returning as soon as possible, and driving the insult home by staying another day with only a pictograph to tell her what he was doing. He noticed that the pictograph was not where he was standing, so he assumed that Cremia had found it and picked it up at one point.

Finally, Grasshopper steeled enough courage to begin the walk back to the ranch. As he did, he looked back to the mountains and saw the sun setting slowly and couldn't help but to imagine it as a large Goron doing a Goron roll down the side of that mountain.


	8. The Rich Hole

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 8: The Rich Hole**

_She confused him._

_She had been his medium for both love and hate at one point or another. As children, he couldn't have hated her more for her beliefs, but now that they have grown up, he comes to realize that the previous reasons for hating her were very much invalid. Now all he noticed was that, besides his master, she was the only one who would give him the time of day._

_Was it love?_

_That is why he kept taking times off to see her, to try to understand these feelings,_

-

Grasshopper never thought he'd get to sleep, much less a full night's worth. The warmth of the ranch in comparison to the mountains helped him to be more comfortable and sleep well.

Neither of the sisters on the ranch knew he had come home, so it was quite a surprise when he exited his room and greeted them as if he had never left. Of course, he got the customary scolding from Cremia and Romani was more interested in whether Serf won the race, per the information Grasshopper left on his pictograph he sent to the ranch. All in all, he got off pretty easy.

-

A bit of time later, the sun rose into Grasshopper's weary eyes as it always had. The last period of time had been quite strenuous, as Cremia emphasized work and Grasshopper felt no inclination to ditch the ranch another time.

On this particular day, Grasshopper's final chore was to milk the cows and clean out the barn.

"Okay, cow. Let's do this quickly so I can get on to what I want to do for a decent amount of time." Grasshopper said expectantly. He placed the bucket where the milk would go under the cow's udder and prepared his fingers for the task ahead.

In a quite anticlimactic moment, they came to rest on the Multitask instead of the cow. Grasshopper slowly played Epona's song. The music pleased the cow very much and the cow began to give milk on its own, almost like repaying a favor.

That was the last cow to milk. Also, Grasshopper had completely cleaned out the barn. All he needed to do was put the milk jar away then close the door to the barn and he'd be done for the day. He put the milk away, and was about to close the door when a "plop" made him come back in.

"Aw… crap." Grasshopper winced, for that is exactly what the cow had done. The cow continued to chew lazily as it completely disregarded what it had just done. Now Grasshopper would have to scoop it, place it on the pile, and then clean up the mess, which would take quite a while. Grasshopper got ready to retrieve the shovel until Romani presented herself.

"Grasshopper, can you come over to the former dog track"

"Sure thing!" Grasshopper said immediately, going from the tools over to the door hurriedly. The cow mooed in protest, which made Grasshopper say, "I have my priorities."

-

Cremia was waiting over at the former dog track. Not much had changed since the woman who managed the races left. The dirt track was still there and the hut where the dogs were kept was still standing.

"You see the hut?" Cremia said after a little briefing, "I'm thinking maybe this huge field can be used for something. If I take out the hut, it'll make the field free for whatever I think up."

"Sounds like a plan… need help tearing it down?" Grasshopper asked, sizing it up. It looked flimsy enough as it was.

"It looks simple," Romani explained, "but we're trying to tear it from the ground, first! Even together, Romani and Cremia are not strong enough."

Grasshopper kneeled to where the shed touched the ground and noticed that there was no definable spot where one ended and one began, "When was this built?"

"It…" Cremia started, then finished short, in deep though, "I really don't know! I think our father said it came with the land!"

"Really?" Grasshopper asked, eyebrows raised with interest, "Maybe it's meant to stay here?"

"Maybe…" Cremia mused, "but I think this space has ample opportunity. I think he'd understand."

Grasshopper nodded, and then chewed his lower lip as he examined the shed, walking around and looking inside. He stepped inside the shed, more specifically the fenced area where the dogs used to be kept. He noticed that, rather than just having three walls and a fence, the area had a floor of wooden planks. He wondered why they'd bother making the floor when the grass would do just fine.

"We could start here. These planks don't need to be here, so perhaps we can tear them up. With just a frame, I suppose that the shed would be manageable thereafter."

Cremia nodded in approval and suggested that Grasshopper get his sword. Though unconventional, her suggestion included using it to pry up the boards.

"Here goes nothing." Grasshopper muttered as he placed his sword in. With a grunt of effort, he slowly pried the board until it finally came up. With a gasp, he lifted the board and placed it down.

The process was repeated several times and rather than seeing the expected dirt or grass, there instead was a blackness. Unearthing all the planks revealed that, right beneath the dog cage, there had been a hole. Grasshopper laid the last plank down and wiped his brow.

"Whoever built this built it to last!" Grasshopper said, covered in sweat.

Cremia had paused before she handed him a rag to wipe himself with… it had been a while since an impure thought had worked its way into her head, and this one was quite inappropriate. She successfully dashed it, fortunately.

"What's that?" Romani asked suddenly, looking into the hole that had been left when the floorboards were removed.

"Is that… a hole? In the ground?" Cremia asked, eyebrows raised.

"That's what is appears to be." Grasshopper said, having been the first one to see it.

"What do you think is down there?" Romani asked, taking a gaping look down the hole.

"Only one way to find out." Cremia said as she stepped over the fence.

"Woah!" Grasshopper exclaimed in response, "You're going down there?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"We don't know what's down there."

"That's what you're for."

"If you say so…"

Grasshopper helped Romani in and dropped in himself. By now, the mystery of the hole far outweighed the task of removing the shed. It was a short drop. There was a tunnel in a certain direction. Walking down the tunnel a bit, they reached an area with an altar and four separate exits, the entrance included. The other three exits were in front, directly side-by-side.

"Which way?" Romani asked.

"You two, back out." Grasshopper simply stated.

"What! Why!"

"I just… have a feeling about this place. Don't worry about it, I'll explore as much as I can and tell you what I saw, okay?"

"But…"

"You heard him," Cremia said bossily as she nudged Romani back in the other direction, "get going. I didn't like you coming down here in the first place."

Romani, with no dampened spirits, made for the entrance they came through. Cremia moved to do the same but paused and put a hand on Grasshopper's shoulder. Grasshopper's gaze was caught by Cremia's.

"Grasshopper," she said softly, "be careful."

There was a silent moment in which they just looked at each other, which stopped once Grasshopper nodded.

"Of course. I'll be back before you know it."

Cremia nodded back and walked back to meet up with Romani. The smaller sister surely needed a boost to get out of the hole.

-

Grasshopper looked about the room he was in. An altar and three new exits. In the center of the room was a pedestal that rose about to his waist. He walked over to it and looked. There were three triangles deeply engraved into the pedestal. They way they were positioned, they seemed to make another, larger triangle. He examined the odd engravings, for he felt a feeling a déjà vu.

_A left hand_.

A searing hatred burned through Grasshopper for all of a second. Grasshopper gasped and backed up from the pedestal. He shook his head and looked at the top of the pedestal again. He felt nothing.

"What was that about?" He asked himself.

Finally, he looked on the side of the pedestal and saw some intelligible words that he could read. He read aloud:

"Test your power, courage, and wisdom. To pass these tests is to prove your worth. Collect all emblems to advance to great riches and great terror."

He didn't know about the "riches" and "terror," but he knew a challenge when he saw one. He scanned over the three untaken exits, they must be the rooms where his "power, courage, and wisdom" were to be tested. He didn't really come all this way just to turn back, so he just decided to take the tunnel to his right and see where it lead.

-

The first room was showered in a serene blue glow and at the far wall was a life-sized statue of a sagely looking woman standing simply, her arms at her sides and a warm smile projecting forward, her eyes narrowed in a sort of kindness.

"What a well-sculpted statue…" Grasshopper mused as he walked toward the center of the room and looked around, taking in the majestic beauty of it all. Finally, he steeled the courage to walk over to the statue.

He sized it up, looking at it up and down. He eventually noticed the plaque that sat at the feet of the statue. He kneeled down to it and once again read out loud:

"Prove your wisdom by identifying the song of your soul and playing it for me."

Grasshopper got up off his knee and cast a quizzical look to the statue, as if asking what she meant by the "song of his soul." He took out the Multitask and looked at it, as if it could help. Which songs did he know? Epona's Song, the Song of Soaring, the New Wave Bossa Nova… that Song of Storms that he learned from the man with the organ a bit of time ago… none of those song really reflected him. He looked harder into the Multitask and soon a memory popped up.

On the stage at Cape Zora, an odd sensation had come over him. As if by some unknown force, he started to play a song that he knew was his own. Grasshopper opened his eyes after remembering this. He felt so sure that the song he played there was made by him… could that be the song of his soul? Only one way to find out.

The first time he had played it, the song had been played with the Multitask set on "guitar." This time, for whatever reason, he decided to set it on "ocarina," for that seemed to be the Multitask's default setting. He held the Multitask as he usually did when he played it, standing up straight, cradling the instrument itself in his left arm like a child while the fingers on his right hand hovered over the buttons of the Multitask, ready to play. He remembered hard the song that he had played and eventually came to play it: Down, down, up, up, right, up, down, left.

Almost involuntarily, Grasshopper continued to play. The song that continued was moving, serene, and almost romantic.

_That was sure to please her._

He stopped playing. It was almost as if he heard the thought, but didn't think it himself. Since the moment was passed, he wasn't too sure. If he had thought it, then whom was he aiming to please? The statue? Perhaps. It seemed like a comment that he would make, so why didn't he just say it out loud? Grasshopper shook his head violently, trying to shake all the nonsense out. As all this went on in his head, the last notes of his song echoed throughout the blue room.

When Grasshopper was done shaking his head, he noticed that the statue had changed. The hands, formerly just hanging at the sides, were now raised, the palms up, barely in front of her chest. On her palms was a golden triangle. Grasshopper remembered the pedestal in the main room and recalled the triangles engraved in it. He put two and two together and came to the conclusion that this golden triangle was one of the three emblems and that the remaining rooms had the remaining two emblems. All three were supposed to go into the holes in the pedestal and whatever that was supposed to trigger was going to happen.

Grasshopper emitted a sort of childish gleeful chuckle. A challenge such as this was sustenance to him. Figuring out the way this tunnel works was enough fun as it was, imagine his anticipation of actually going through with and conquering these challenges. He gingerly approached the statue, her face seeming to encourage him on and to take the emblem, proud that he had figured out the song of his soul. He took the emblem from her hands, almost expecting them to return to being at her side. They remained where they were. Grasshopper raised an eyebrow, made his usual conclusion that the statue was magical, and left the blue room.

When he returned to the main room, he looked to the pedestal, then stood next to the pedestal, facing the three tunnels opposite the entrance he had used first. For whatever reason, the glow of the blue room seemed more visible now, as if marking that room as having been visited for future reference.

He looked at the pedestal and then to the emblem in his hand. It looked like it would fit in any of these slots. He looked back to the tunnels and thought if maybe their positions had any significance. Maybe the rightmost tunnel corresponded to the rightmost engraved triangle from his perspective. He placed the emblem he had into the slot; the slot wasn't deep at all, so much so that half the emblem was still sticking out of it. Once Grasshopper had it in comfortably, the same blue glow emitted from the slot, most of it being blocked off by the emblem, so the glow was more of a thin outline.

"Cool." Grasshopper merely said. He grinned in anticipation, only two more to go. He decided on going from right to left, so he entered through the middle tunnel next.

-

Grasshopper emerged into a room much like the blue room, but instead it was bathed in a red color. The markings in the room were much the same as the ones in the blue room. It seemed the only difference was the glow until Grasshopper found another statue in the same respective place that the statue in the blue room was in proportion to this new room.

This new statue was quite a deviation from the first. Where the first woman had been sagely and majestic, this new one looked very… exotic, to say at the very least. The "clothes" that the statue wore were more tightly than anything else and her feminine features were apparent, albeit covered up. She was also in a rather interesting pose, one leg crossed over the other, kind of like in a dancing position, one hand was positioned behind her head, giving her a look of stretching, and the other hand was outstretched, the fingers in a position as if beckoning Grasshopper near. Her face featured one eye closed, as if winking and her mouth was curved up at the edges in a suggestive smile.

Grasshopper found himself scanning the statue for a bit of time, the darkest part in the back of his mind wishing desperately that the woman depicted in the statue was a real person. Grasshopper rolled his eyes at these thoughts and sighed. He eventually forced himself to tear his gaze away from the many parts of her that could be stared at for hours and turned to the plaque as the statue's feet, just like the previous statue. He read:

"Prove your power by defending yourself. Take my hand when you are ready."

When he returned to his normal standing position, he wondered what the plaque meant by "defending" himself. Maybe it would come alive and attack him. That dark part of his mind hinted that being pinned to the floor by a real woman who looked like her wouldn't entirely be a bad thing. Maybe he was taking his too literally. Maybe something different would happen besides violence, maybe a puzzle or a gamer of some sort.

Grasshopper looked to the outstretched hand of the statue, the one beckoning. Where it seemed to beckon for suggestive reasons earlier, the new knowledge he now had tweaked the beckoning to look like encouraging him to take her hand and take the challenge. He wondered what the plaque meant by being "ready." Well, he wasn't tired or hurt at all, maybe being at the top of your game counts as being ready. Grasshopper slowly reached out, and then wrapped his fingers around the stone hand.

There was a metallic thud. Grasshopper looked to see that the sole exit of the red room was been barred off. Grasshopper cursed his luck when, to add insult to injury, a large figure in knight's armor seemed to drop from above. He let go of the statue's hand.

"Okay… so I do have to fight something." He muttered, and then took out his sword.

The large knight seemed to be indifferent to its surroundings until Grasshopper approached. As one would expect, the large knight responded by approaching Grasshopper, his much larger sword showing. At this time, Grasshopper only now saw the much larger sword and gulped. The large knight emitted a grunt of effort as it swung its sword vertically. Grasshopper strafed to the side and noted the grunt. Either the knight was not too bright, or there was some creature's head under the helmet. When these thoughts concluded, he had barely any time to dodge before the large knight struck again. This guy was fast with his strikes. Grasshopper really found no way to counter until he noticed that he spent a bit of time preparing his attacks. While he did so, the signs that he was either attacking vertically or horizontally were very blatant. This gave Grasshopper an idea.

He once again approached the large knight. The large knight stared down and readied a horizontal swing. Grasshopper took the chance and leapt up when the swing was made. He slashed forward with the sword and knocked the helmet clean off the knight's head. Grasshopper looked at the fruits of his labor and saw that, underneath the helmet, he swore that the head of the knight looks almost exactly like a dog's. It looked like the latter theory of his two earlier was prevalent. The knight continued to attack. Grasshopper noticed a vertical swing coming and had another idea. Once the swing came, Grasshopper had already rolled out of the way and around the knight. He swiped up with the sword and cut the straps keeping the armor together. All of the armor fell off immediately and hit the ground. Grasshopper looked back and saw that the rest of the large knight's body was pretty much human, albeit dark black.

The large knight did not give up, for it continued as it had done before. Now that its armor was down, Grasshopper ran forward and attacked the body with his sword, he made some cuts, but they didn't seem to faze the knight, as he continued a horizontal swing. Grasshopper barely back flipped out of the way. He needed to take away that sword. Countering the large knight had worked so far, so Grasshopper continued on his way and, once another horizontal swing was attempted, Grasshopper once again leapt up and slashed the head of the large knight. The head seemed very thick, as Grasshopper couldn't see any cut. The large knight staggered back and almost fell. The lack of balance made him let go of his large sword. Grasshopper put away his own sword and picked up the large knights sword. That's when he realized why the knight was so large. He couldn't possibly lift that huge, heavy sword and expect to wield it like he did his own.

Noticing his sword stolen, the large knight approached, ready to battle with his fists. This guy never gives up, does he? Grasshopper lifted the sword into the air, trying to see if he could use it in any way. He grunted with effort, and then got an idea. If he couldn't use the sword normally, he would have to make unconventional use of it. He lifted it higher in the air, and then with all his strength, heaved the large metal object at the approaching large knight. The sword gored the large knight clean through his midsection, getting stuck in there and causing a pool of blood to form.

"Eww…" Grasshopper winced.

The large knight gave Grasshopper a look that said, "Real mature, buddy," then lost balance and fell over. Once he hit the ground, he disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, sword, armor, helmet, and all.

Grasshopper put his hands on his knees and gasped out of fatigue for two seconds. That was easy. Time-consuming and very, very tiring, but easy. Finally, he was able to stand erect and looked to the statue at the end of the room. The woman was in the same position, but now her outstretched had was completely open, and in the center of it was another golden triangle emblem.

Grasshopper walked over to the statue and took the emblem. He gave the emblem a proud gaze before leaving the red room. He paused at the exit, waiting to see if the statue would suddenly turn into a flesh-and-blood woman and maul him in a pleasurable manner. It never happened. Grasshopper chuckled… he at least deserved something of that nature for having to endure that fight.

From the pedestal in the main room, the middle tunnel now glowed with a red light. By now, Grasshopper was done trying to depict the logical "whys" and "hows" of how anything went on in this place. He placed the second emblem into the top slot in the pedestal, per his previous theory and sure enough, a red outlined glow can from the top slot. He looked off to the final tunnel with anticipation. It he got past those other two, how much of a challenge could the third one possibly possess?

-

The last of the three rooms was just like the rest, only with a green glow to it. Grasshopper wasted no time in walking over to the statue at the opposite end. The woman depicted in the statue was more of a young lady, younger than the others. She had an adorable closed-eye smile and was clutching a book with both arms. Grasshopper kneeled down to read the plaque:

"Prove your courage by facing the greatest fear you've known at any point in time."

He stood up and wondered what that meant. He noticed that there were no instructions, just those words. What was he supposed to do, touch the book? Play a scary song? Scare the statue? He considered that maybe if he went to the exit and looked over the entire room, there would be a clue or anything of that nature somewhere.

Grasshopper walked over towards the exit and once he was close enough, the exit was barred off as suddenly as it had been in the red room. That was just great, would he have to fight another one of those large knights? He was so over those. He turned around to face his fate.

And saw pure darkness.

Rather, he beheld a silhouette of a figure, a figure a little shorter than him in height and seemed to have a slender yet stronger figure like him. Judging by the thickness of certain areas, he appeared to wear boots of some kind and a tunic. The most interesting part is that silhouette either had weird, long hair or wore a type of long hat.

Grasshopper was terrified.

_He wasn't ready._

The living silhouette had a shadowy sword and swiped forward with such. Grasshopper yelped and avoided the sword.

_All this time and the one time his guard is down…_

Ready for what!

_Destiny. You failure, consider yourself exiled._

"No!" Grasshopper shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the chamber and making the silhouette stop.

Grasshopper gasped, as if being released from some bounds. What had just happened? The voices and images were gone, but he was still a bit shaken up. Grasshopper looked to the still silhouette, as it seemed waiting for him to be ready to fight. Grasshopper wasn't fond of being terrified of anything without knowing why, therefore he had a bone to pick with this dark one.

Grasshopper drew his sword, knowing full well he'd need to defeat the dark one to advance. The dark one seemed to acknowledge by drawing his own "sword." They both seemed to pause before the imminent battle started. At the same time, they both rose their swords and ran toward each other. They both stop and swung, hitting each other's swords. There were some clashes until the dark one brought Grasshopper's sword up and tried to plant a kick on his chest. Grasshopper leaned to the side and ended up doing a cartwheel. When he got back on his feet, he had to bring his sword up again to block an incoming attack.

Shadow or no shadow, the dark one was a very skilled swordsman. Grasshopper knew that at this rate, he'd tire out faster and needed to think of something new. He successfully made the dark one roll away, giving him time to root through his holding bag. Before starting his chores for the day, all that time ago, Grasshopper decided to start carrying the odd holding bag that was introduced to him on the first day of his new life. He now started to look through it and looked to see if anything from his past life could help him in this situation. He felt a hilt and pulled whatever was attached to it out of the bag. He ended up protruding a rather large hammer with what looked like a very dense head. He looked at the weapon with interest until he noticed the dark one get back up and run toward him.

Hammer in hand, Grasshopper awaited the approach of the dark one. Wielding the hammers like he would a sword, he swiped the dark one's sword, easily knocking the dark one away and off balance. Grasshopper grinned. Who knew that a large hammer was what to use against a dark one? Grasshopper continued his onslaught with the hammer until he was able to force the dark one on to the floor using the hammer. Not wasting any time, Grasshopper brought the hammer up, and down on the dark one. Rather than having shadow blood everywhere, the dark one just dispersed like a black fog. Grasshopper was relieved that there would be no need for clean up.

Grasshopper dropped the hammer back into the holding bag, and then shouldered it effortlessly. He didn't know what made it so light, considering the hammer he just put in it, but he didn't really care. He carefully strapped the bag on so it would stick to his tunic rather than fall off, and then stepped toward the statue. The statue's arms were now outstretched and the book was open. On top of the book was the third and final emblem. The statue's face now had its eyes open and was still looking so darn cute. Grasshopper took the emblem and left, eager to see what his labor would result in.

-

Back in the main room for the fourth time, Grasshopper faced the three tunnels, the pedestal in-between. Grasshopper now saw all three rooms glowing their respective colors. He took the final emblem and placed it into the last socket. Predictably, the socket glowed a green outline. There was a moment of silence, then a rumble. Grasshopper backed up and saw that there was an alcove above the three tunnels. More rumbles gave birth to two stairways on either side of the three tunnels, leading up to the aforementioned alcove. Expectant, Grasshopper ascended one of the staircases and noticed a new opening that looked like a door had been there.

Inside this new opening was a rather narrow room. In the upper left corner from Grasshopper was a large boulder. In the lower right was some odd flower with a bomb growing out of it. To the lower left was a shelf with pots and to the upper right was a parchment on the wall. Directly in front was another door, and this one was not budging. Grasshopper considered many things, and then looked under the large boulder. Careful inspection showed that the boulder rested on a switch, which it was weighing down heavily. Maybe if the boulder was destroyed, the switch would be un-pressed and the door would open.

Grasshopper wondered how he would remove the boulder, and then considered the bomb plant in the opposite corner. He wondered if he could pluck the bomb, then use it to blow up the boulder. He walked over to the bomb plant and firmly placed his hands on the bomb, then tried to pull it up. It proved to be difficult. Grasshopper breathed in, ready for another go. He pulled and pulled, but that bomb stayed put. Grasshopper wished that he could pull up that bomb, at least to restore his wounded pride. He gave one last tug. The armbands on his wrists glowed and the bomb was plucked effortlessly. Grasshopper couldn't believe it. Those armbands really came in hands sometimes. He inspected them until he heard a hiss. He then noticed that the bomb had been immediately lit upon being plucked. With a panicked yelp, Grasshopper tossed the bomb at the boulder. Once the bomb exploded, it took the boulder with it. The switch went up and the door opened.

The room ahead was an equally small room, but with some major differences. First, there were no decorations adorning the walls, second, the room was circular, and third, there seemed to be two varieties of items in the room. One, treasure chests, two, odd brown-colored lumps. These items were placed in a checkerboard pattern about the room. Meaning in the first row was a chest, a lump, a chest, a lump, and so forth. On the next row, where the chest was in the first row, a lump now was and vice versa. It was quite a sight to behold.

Grasshopper inspected one of the odd lumps, but quickly turned his attention to one of the chests. It was a nice-sized chest. Grasshopper lifted the lid and looked inside. The chest was filled with rupees. Though only the green and red varieties, worth one and five rupees each, respectively, there were a lot of them in there. Grasshopper considered the possibility that maybe all of the other chests could be filled with so many rupees. This would all keep the ranch very well funded and maybe now Cremia can stop hounding everybody to work so hard! Grasshopper felt good times ahead when…

"Uhhhn…"

Grasshopper snapped to attention. Was somebody else here? Well, maybe he could share the money, but after all, he went through those trials, so maybe they could split it ninety-ten, at the most.

He turned around and did not see a person's face. He beheld a face of a wooden mask with three mutilated holes, two for eyes and one for a mouth. Grasshopper immediately recalled something he read about during a visit to Clock Town. This was a ReDead. The wiry-framed terror limped toward Grasshopper as he had the misfortune to look it in the face. Immediately, a high-pitched screech echoed throughout the room. Several terrifying images raced through Grasshopper's mind, many he did not understand. This process made him freeze in place as the ReDead approached. The images kept racing through. They were horrifying, but none of them made sense. Who were those people? What was going on? Why couldn't he move?

An ice-cold hand tried to restrict Grasshopper's arm, making him snap back into reality. In one swift movement, Grasshopper, with a shrill yell, took out his sword and chopped the ReDead ahead of him in two. The two that had snuck up behind him lost their hands. All three shrieked in pain and kneeled to the floor. Panting fast, Grasshopper backed up toward the exit and saw as every one of the "odd lumps" began to unroll and become ReDeads. Grasshopper bolted for the door, then remembered the switch and jumped on it, closing the door. Despite the door being closed, the moaning of all the ReDeads could still be faintly heard.

Well, the mystery of the "riches and terror" was solved. The riches were the treasure chests and the ReDeads most certainly presented the terror. Now Grasshopper knew that at the end of the day, the chests were the rewards for all that trouble, but he didn't think he could take on all those ReDeads. He felt satisfied in getting this far. He stepped off the switch to return to the ranch.

By doing so, the switch popped back up and the door opened. The ReDeads looked and saw a chance to escape.

"Oh damn!" Grasshopper yelped and jumped onto the switch, closing the door and entrapping the ReDeads once again.

Grasshopper looked to see if the door was closed, then breathed again. He then got into a position where he was sitting on the switch, for he knew one fact.

"I'm doomed."

It was an apt way to put it, for if he moved, the door would open and the ReDeads would be free. However, he just can't whittle the days of his life away sitting on a damned switch. He looked over to the parchment on the upper right wall and it said, "Collect your reward, but be forewarned of the restless souls of those who have perished trying to achieve what you have."

"Now you tell me." Grasshopper muttered.

He looked around the room for anything. The moaning of the ReDeads was gaining volume in particular.

"Oh, shut the hell up." Grasshopper snapped, more out of frustration of bringing this upon himself.

He continued to look until he noticed that there was one more plaque on the shelf with the pots. Grasshopper could not read it well enough. He stood up and placed his right foot on the switch firmly. He then edged toward the plaque with his other foot, looking back and forth from the switch. It was quite a comical sight.

"Nobody… is… perfect…" He read, prompting him to roll his eyes, "To… rectify… play… the… Elegy… of… Emptiness…" he saw notes.

Grasshopper took out the Multitask, and still in that uncomfortable position played the song below: Right, left, right, down, right, up, left.

After finishing the song, returned to a standing position and something odd happened. He was pushed off the switch. He turned around and saw himself standing on the switch. Actually, it looked kind of like a person standing very still with empty eyes, or a statue using living material. This statue looked just like Grasshopper except that he wore a suit of armor and a very stern expression. The statue posed with a sword looking like it would be embedded in the ground, the hand of the statue rested on the hilt of the sword.

Grasshopper strained to hear and noticed that the moaning and activity in the other room had stopped. He supposed that the ReDeads must have realized that their chances of escaping have just drastically dropped, so they simply stopped trying. He could imagine them returning to where they were and curling up into lumps again. Grasshopper gave a huge, frail sigh of relief that this disaster was averted. Looking at the door entrapping the ReDeads, Grasshopper made for the exit of the room, then to the exit of this whole area.

-

With some grunts of effort, Grasshopper pulled himself out of the hole. He walked out of the dog shed, walked some steps, then came to rest some yards away. He looked over to the shed and the hole it contained. No one could ever suspect what rested there. As he continued on the path that leads to the main house of the ranch, Cremia encountered him.

"Oh, Grasshopper! Is everything all right?"

"It is now." He said with a grin.

"Oh, stop." Cremia said with a blush, then, "So what was down there?"

"Tunnels," Grasshopper said immediately, "plenty of… tunnels."

"Tunnels?" Cremia asked, merely curious.

"Tunnels." Grasshopper replied, trying to drive his point in.

"All right, tunnels it is." Cremia said dismissively.

When she turned her back to lead the way back to the house, Grasshopper sighed inwardly. Cremia really did not really need to know what kind of enclosed terror resided near her ranch.

-

The hole, while containing the solution to what could be a problem with the ranch held way too many more new problems to deal with. As Cremia had allowed the issue of the hole to end, so did the day as the sun set, though in the hole, no one could tell for it was a place the sun never touched.


	9. Incumbency Disadvantage

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 9: Incumbency Disadvantage**

_He was a name._

_Over time, being part of the Master's army had made him well known around the world. Almost everywhere he'd go, there would be a person who would greet him by name and even try to bend his ear for some small talk. Small though the talk may be, he flourished in the concept of being known. After all, the army was well known and respected and loved throughout; being a part was the most honorable thing._

_As opposed to never being known, being scorned and ignored, even hated for what he was… an orphan._

_Those days were long past. Now he had a job and a reputation and some good friends._

_No damned "hero" was going to take all that from him._

-

Grasshopper moaned in the typical way as he rose from bed. He was actually kind of glad that he only had those odd dreams… the memories of the ReDeads he found in the hole were still vivid, so having weird, unexplainable dreams were preferred over nightmares of being disemboweled by ReDeads. Grasshopper sighed and got out of bed, for Cremia would come in soon to see if he was up.

-

After working on all other chores for the morning, Cremia gave the newest batch of milk to deliver to the milk bar.

"… And this time, you come straight back after making the delivery!" Cremia lectured, jabbing a finger in Grasshopper's forehead repeatedly.

"Yes'm." Grasshopper muttered nervously before Cremia relented. He then took the shipment of milk and played the Song of Soaring on the Multitask and disappearing.

-

Grasshopper walked to the milk bar and set the milk down.

"Morning." The bartender greeted with a nod as he put down the mug he was cleaning and started to stack up the milk.

Grasshopper sat down as the bartender put the milk away. All was peaceful until…

"Dude!"

Grasshopper didn't need any help knowing who that was. That one word was all that did it for him. Sure enough he saw the entirety of the Indigo-gos setting up on the stage.

"Long time no see, Bud!" The bassist Japas almost leapt over to where Grasshopper sat and sat next to him.

"Yeah… how are you guys?"

"Fantastic, G." The drummer Tijo sat on the other side, "Our fans have returned and then some! Ever since you performed, we've all been giving our best and it paid off! Not to mention that everybody is asking when you'll come back!"

Grasshopper laughed, "Oh, I'm coming back now?"

"If you want. The people just assumed you would! I mean… things have barely been expected of us since Mikau died, but everybody expects you encore!"

"Also," Japas said, "we also would like you to visit sometime. Even if you don't want to play, just to hang out. I mean, there was a 'G buzz' about the living quarters after you left and you know who started every conversation about you? Lulu."

"Really…?" Grasshopper said with a bit of a blush and looked over to where Evan and Lulu had been setting up. Grasshopper saw Lulu completing a turn of her head and noticed a tinge of purple on her face, "Can you guys excuse me for a second?"

Grasshopper rose from his seat and made his way over to where Lulu was deliberately not looking at him, "Hello."

Lulu seemed to have a start, but then turned around and looked at Grasshopper, "I suppose you saw me not look at you?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry I'm acting so silly… especially in light of what I wish to tell you."

"What is that?"

"Um… I'm sorry about what happened… or, actually, what almost happened. I just guess that you felt with me the most and… well, I filled the gap Mikau left with you a bit hastily. I mean… you are a very nice person and all, but I suppose love is too soon. Let's just say the next time I try to invoke animal lust, I'll get to know you better first."

"That's comforting." Then after a pause, "No, really… it is."

"Got the payment!" The bartender called from the bar.

"Oh… I'll see you guys!" Grasshopper called. The Indigo-gos all waved and said goodbye.

The bartender handed the money to Grasshopper and he checked for more dips in the economy. When he was done, the surprise was actually a pleasant one.

"More than last time… is the economy doing better?"

"Yes, not as good as before, but yes. We have a new mayor."

Grasshopper looked up, "Oh, really?"

"Yeah… a man took action and vividly described his plans for Clock Town. We decided to give him a try and already there is significant improvement."

"Too bad for the former mayor, though."

"I suppose… but you can't argue with results."

"I guess you can't."

-

Grasshopper just had to see this new mayor. If he made the visit quick enough, then Cremia wouldn't notice. He closed the door of the mayor's house behind him and looked around the waiting area.

"Do you have an appointment?" The receptionist asked.

"Does anybody?" Grasshopper asked, thinking about how many appointments a new mayor would have.

"Actually… no."

"I'll only take a minute."

"In that case, go right on in."

Grasshopper crossed the threshold into the new mayor's office.

"Oh ho ho! And who do we have here?" The mayor asked, "No… I'm the new guy here. You can just call me Mayor Mognar!"

To hear the mayor speak is another thing than looking at the way the mayor wished to dress. His overall appearance was a rather skinny and tall stature entirely decked out in a very dark purple suit. He had a nose bigger than normal and a handlebar mustache. His brown hair was slicked back and topped with a long top hat. However, he also wore a lot of gold. Gold earrings, gold rings, a thin gold necklace, and one could swear the buttons on his vest were made of gold.

"Mayor Mognar…" Grasshopper said, sticking out a hand and the new mayor shook it, "I work at the Romani Ranch. You know of it, of course? Let me just say that I suspect we've come down on hard times and whatever you did for Clock Town's economy, it's really helping us out. I just wanted to thank you."

Mognar laughed heartily, "It really is no problem! The only problem was that former mayor of ours! But I wish not to talk in such a harsh manner now. Is there anything else you wish for?"

It seemed like a friendly gesture, but somehow Grasshopper sensed hostility, "Not right now."

"Ah, splendid! If you excuse me, my mayoral duties call!"

Grasshopper nodded and walked out of the mayor's office. As he did, he couldn't help but to sit down and size up Mognar in his mind's eye. He seemed like such a nice person… yet the way he wore gold so frivolously couldn't help but to bring itself up repeatedly. He looked up and grinned to see a familiar sight.

"Hey, Bomber Gang!"

Sure enough, the blue-and-white clad lads were huddled in a circle. At Grasshopper's voice they all looked up. After a good smile, they all walked to Grasshopper as one unit. Jim walked from the group and saluted Grasshopper.

"Hello, Mister Grasshopper!"

"Please… just 'Grasshopper.'"

"Okay!"

"So… how are things at the observatory going?"

"Just great! We're making tons of money and having a lot of fun doing it!"

The talk of money made Grasshopper think about Mognar, "So… how do you like the new mayor?"

All the Bombers paused, then talked amongst themselves, and then Jim looked back up to Grasshopper. He beckoned Grasshopper to kneel down.

"We're plotting against him."

"Pardon me?" Grasshopper said, knowing to be silent, as was the purpose of his kneeling.

"You heard me… we rather don't like him."

"Why not?"

Jim looked left and right, "We always took trips to the mayor's office before, right? Well, we came in and the lady said he had no appointments. When he saw us, he looked like we were little monsters and told us to 'beat it!' Us, the good Bombers of Clock Town! Usually, we need to do something to deserve it. Right, men?"

"Yeah!" The other Bombers said. Some had looks of disgust, others jabbed their thumbs down, and one did both.

Grasshopper folded his arms and gave them doubtful looks. Sure, he sensed something odd about Mognar… but to flat-out not like the guy? He thought that maybe they had taken a page from Admiral Viscen's book and made conclusions too soon.

-

Cremia was reading a newspaper when Grasshopper got back. She put it down when Grasshopper walked in and wore a smirk.

"Almost surprised you came back after a decent amount of time elapsed."

"Har, har, har." Grasshopper said with a roll of his eyes as he sat down and saw Mognar's picture on the newspaper, "Hey… read up about the new mayor yet?"

"Oh…" Cremia looked to the article, "Yeah. I guess I would have to meet him in order to have an opinion. I hear he rejuvenated the economy in Clock Town."

"True," He said and put the bag of rupees on the table, "our payment is back to normal."

"Really?" Cremia looked up and counted, "Looks like we won't need to work so hard now."

Grasshopper gently and silently said, "thank you" to the sky and left the house just to go outside.

"Grasshopper!" Romani's voice rang. Grasshopper turned to where Romani was coming from.

"Hey, kiddo. Done with all your chores?"

"Yep!" Romani chirped, happy just to be in Grasshopper's presence.

"So… did Cremia tell you about Clock Town's new mayor?"

"She did! She told Romani he looked like a frivolous airhead!"

Grasshopper reeled back, "Cremia said that! Then why did she tell me otherwise?"

"She thought you'd meddle."

"That's why she made you promise not to tell, huh?"

"That's why-" Romani paused, then hung her head, "Oops."

"It's okay," Grasshopper grinned, ruffling her hair, "I'm sure it would have come out eventually."

He noticed Romani had a look of dread and looked behind himself. None other than the Gorman brothers were walking up the path to the ranch. The former two could only watch their approach. As the Gormans reached them, so did Cremia. Cremia rested her hands on Romani's shoulders protectively.

The Gormans were different in that they now wore top hats and monocles, which was odd because none of them ever showed signs of sight problems. They also both walked using canes, more for show than anything else.

"Well, howdy there, Romani Ranchers!" One of the Gormans said, swinging his cane about.

"What do you two want?" Cremia asked, not thinking they would ever come for beneficial purposes.

"You accusing words wound us!" The other Gorman said with exaggerated motions, "We merely came over to share the new of our great fortune!"

"'Great fortune?'" Grasshopper echoed.

"Oh, I suppose it's not in the newspaper. Silly them." The first Gorman said.

"We're the new primary milk source for Clock Town!"

"Excuse me!" Romani suddenly shouted so loud they could probably hear it in the mountains.

"You're excused." A Gorman said, "But it's true. Recently, we got orders that, starting the day after tomorrow, our milk will be the frontrunners in the milk bar."

"Of course," The other continued, "Your Cheteau… whatever will still be in the same stock and price, but your regular milk will be ordered less! We were just paid a fabulous amount to agree to this. So, if you ever need money, you know who to ask."

The Gormans then made their way out, laughing once they were a good distance.

"This sucks!" Romani suddenly piqued.

"Romani! Watch your tongue!" Cremia scolded.

"Well it does! Those guys are bad and so is their milk!"

"I know… I know." Cremia muttered.

Grasshopper scowled. First Cremia had to be strung along only to be let down? Maybe Mognar could do something… unless he was the one to make that decree in the first place?

-

Grasshopper had asked Cremia to see what was going on and, surprisingly, she agreed to this. Using the Song of Soaring a third time, Grasshopper landed in Clock Town and made for the mayor's office until he saw the Bombers. They looked like they were scheming. Grasshopper walked over.

"Okay, you five. What are you planning?" Grasshopper asked.

The Bombers turned around and Jim spoke, "Just the guy we wanted to see!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah! Listen… we know some things and they're down in this notebook. Look!"

Grasshopper kneeled and looked at the notebook.

"'Safe behind picture…' 'Big spending…' 'Frequent Gorman visits…' Wait! Frequent Gorman visits!"

"Yep," Jim spoke up, "Those weird guys keep coming in and whenever they leave, they have big smiles!"

"This is unbelievable! Do you think it's possible that the Gormans are in some kind of illegitimate dealing with the new mayor?"

"I don't know. Maybe the mayor doesn't know better… or maybe he really doesn't know better."

Jim had put an emphasis on the word "really." Grasshopper though and realized that Jim suspected the mayor of being one of the illegitimate ones.

"I wish you guys got more evidence than just notes… nobody will believe this." Grasshopper said, handing the notes back.

"Yeah… we wanted to talk to the mayor, but the lady said the mayor won't be seeing us any more!"

"That's suspicious behavior if I ever heard of any. I'm going to see what is up with this Mognar."

Grasshopper stood again and made his way to the mayor's house.

-

When Grasshopper walked in, the receptionist looked to him, "Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes." Grasshopper said without thinking.

"Go in." The receptionist said, looking back down to her work.

Grasshopper thought for a second on how easy that was as he entered the mayor's room.

"Ah! The young lad from earlier!" Mognar said, "Come to thank me more?"

"Actually…" Grasshopper muttered, "I've come to ask you something about the way you are doing things."

"Oh… my policies? You weren't there when I ran, I bet."

"No, no… I hear your policies are fine. I just wanted to ask about your dealings with the Gorman brothers. Did you know that they are now the primary milk providers to Clock Town?"

"Yes. I decreed it."

Grasshopper had not expected him to just come right out and say it, "But… why? Have you ever tasted their milk? I'm sure that the Romani Ranch provides much better milk… and for less!"

"Yes… but you see, the Gormans are coming down on hard times and needed a boost in their profits. Therefore, I gave them this chance."

"But you paid them to do it. Why would you pay them to do what they would want you to do?"

Mognar made a blank stare for some moments, and then said, "I'm sure that investment will help them to produce the best milk this town has seen!"

"I'm not too sure about that. Last I saw them they were as fancily dressed as… as… as you!"

"I beg your pardon! Are you insinuating something?"

"I'm not… but I just want to warn you that what you are doing is wrong. The Romani Ranch is doing poorly than you think, maybe even worse than the Gormans had been doing before you came. I'm asking you to reconsider this plan of action."

"Humph! If I were to cave in to every request, I would be a terrible mayor! I specifically said that I do not flip-flop on the issues unless I have good reason to!"

"You do have good reason! The Romani Ranch will suffer if you continue to hand success to the Gormans on a silver platter!"

"Silver platter! Just because they have my finances does not mean that they will be successful!"

"Somehow I do not think that."

Suddenly the receptionist spoke through the doorway, "Mayor Mognar, the performing troupe is here to see you."

"Ah, hear that? Your time is up." Mognar stated, "I'm sure we can conclude this debate another time. I have but one question… what is your name?"

"Grasshopper." Grasshopper muttered before standing and leaving, not wanting to see Mognar's reaction.

-

Grasshopper was a bit irritable when he returned to the ranch, but he managed to not let it get to his work ethic and manner around the girls. It was the next day when the newspaper was delivered and the front headlines made her gasp.

"What's wrong?" Grasshopper asked, walking over.

Cremia turned the newspaper and showed him. It was a headline that read, _Crazy Kid Opposes Mayor, Threatens_. Below is a caricature of Grasshopper shaking his fist and fuming.

"What the hell!" Grasshopper blurted before grabbing the paper and scanning the article:

"'Yesterday at about three o'clock, a boy barged into the mayor's office without warning. Not giving the mayor a chance to defend himself, he begins to shout and destroy the office, demanding that he give all of Clock Town's money to the Romani Ranch. The mayor tried to reason with him, but it seemed reason was a foreign language. The mayor then abruptly demanded the boy leave, for his next appointment had come. This is obviously the work of the Romani Ranch, the primary supplier of milk. It is in light of this that the mayor has decreed that the Gorman Track shall now be the primary supplier of the town's milk. There is an investigation into the boy's disturbing rant. It is known he had hit his head hard one day and his mind was warped to believe that his name was "Cricket." This only leads to the conclusion that the boy has a mental problem and cannot be at fault for what he did.' He got my name wrong!"

"What a bunch of crap." Cremia muttered.

"This is the opening arrow shot of a war!" Grasshopper said, trying not to look like the caricature in the newspaper.

-

Grasshopper teleported to Clock Town wearing a cloak for disguise and saw that guards blocked the mayor's office. This was probably in light of his recent "threatening." Grasshopper walked around and made his way to the milk bar. There, he sat down and motioned for the bartender to come near.

"What's going on in this town?" Grasshopper whispered.

The bartender's eyes widened for two second in recognition then looked like he was doing something else, "Things are going really bad here. There are posters for your arrest on the wall of this bar… conveniently, they cover the advertisements for the Romani Ranch."

Grasshopper scowled and pounded the bar, "I knew it… the mayor is in cahoots with the Gormans and is trying character assassination to keep all meddlers out!"

"You didn't really…?"

"No! I mean, I did go in and talk to him, but I wasn't close to what the newspapers described."

"I thought as much. The entire town is skeptical about what the newspaper said. People are coming in to ask the mayor what had happened, but he's allowing nobody in due to repairs."

"Yeah… repairs. I didn't do anything to that office!"

The bartender nodded, then snapped to attention, speaking real loudly, "If you want some milk, Sir, we require that you pay up front!"

Grasshopper gave a quizzical look to the bartender, and then heard the seat next to him get filled.

"Oh ho ho ho ho! Give the man a glass of milk on me!"

It was Mognar. Grasshopper lowered his head so that none of it showed past the cloak. He then decided silence would only make him look more suspicious.

He adopted a low gravelly voice, "Mighty kind of you, Sir."

"No problem, stranger." Mognar said, "I am the mayor of this here town."

"Very pretty."

"Not too bad if I say so myself! Say, are you looking to live here?"

"No. Just drifting."

"Ah… I suppose different people have different dreams. I do hope you've at least taken notice of the 'wanted' signs on the wall of this building. We need that boy alive."

"I'll look into it."

"Splendid. Oh, and barkeep? Remember… Tomorrow, this entire bar will be stocked with 'Gorman Track' brand milk, right?"

"Of course, Sir." The bartender said.

"Fantastic! Hopefully we will meet again, Drifter. I bid you both good day!"

As soon as Mognar left, both Grasshopper and the bartender let out frail sighs.

"He's just unsettling." The bartender muttered, "But on a lighter note, you are a fantastic actor."

"Thanks… Hey, I have an idea. The Bombers told showed me a list of things wrong with Mognar… Apparently, he has a safe behind a picture in his room. Maybe if I can show that safe to people and what it contains, I can expose Mognar for what he truly is!"

"How do you know that there is something incriminating in that safe?"

"I don't… It's just my best bet at the moment."

"I see… well, good luck. We're all pulling for you, G!"

"Thank you… that means a lot."

Grasshopper sauntered out of the milk bar, gave the "wanted" signs of him a good glare, then made his way to the mayor's office.

-

At the door to the mayor's office, there were guards patrolling, but none other than Admiral Viscen was guarding the door. Grasshopper steeled his nerves and hoped the Admiral was one of the people in his side. He walked over in the hood and used his low gravelly voice again.

"Excuse me, Sir… may I have access to the mayor?"

Viscen looked down at Grasshopper with a raised eyebrow. Grasshopper could swear Viscen knew it was he.

"On what matter?"

Grasshopper inwardly sighed, "I'm thinking about talking about living in this town."

Viscen thought for a second, then looked to the door, "Very well… just be careful. The mayor is on-edge due to recent events."

"Thank you." Grasshopper muttered, then walked in the open door.

"Do you have an appointment?" The receptionist asked like always.

"Just tell the mayor… that the drifter has come to ask about living in Clock Town."

"Okay…" The receptionist said, skeptical. She walked over to the door to the room and repeated the message. The mayor accepted with a jovial tone, "Um, okay… you may come in."

The mayor himself opened the door only so Grasshopper could be admitted in. Then it was quickly closed.

"So… changed your mind about being a drifter, eh? Well, Clock Town is the best place to choose!"

"I notice your room is not as damaged as gossip says it is."

The mayor looked around. Sure enough, the room was as it was when Grasshopper had last visited it.

"Oh… the repairs were done. I'm just keeping that secret so people don't like I'm lying about the incident."

"Well… I think you are lying."

"I beg your pardon! If you are going to make such a bold statement, then I at least deserve to see your face!"

"Very well."

Grasshopper bent over, then climactically readjusted his stance to a straight stand, flinging off the cloak in the process. Mognar gasped and his face paled as Grasshopper narrowed his eyes menacingly at the mayor.

"Y-y-you!"

"Yes, me. Oh, and my name is 'Grasshopper.' You could have at least gotten it right."

"What do you want!"

"The truth to be known. About me and about you."

The right side of Mognar's mouth twitched. He then noticed that Grasshopper had his sword in its sheath, the sheath on his belt.

"Guards! I am being besieged!"

Grasshopper looked on as all the guards swarmed into the room.

"Get him!"

The guards advanced on Grasshopper. In a swift movement, Grasshopper unsheathed his sword and used it to smack the guards' spears away. In the time it took for them to reorient themselves, Grasshopper had leapt back so they didn't surround him. One of the guards charged forward, spear out, and tried to hit Grasshopper. Grasshopper dodged the spear, and then kicked the guard in the stomach, pushing him back. Another guard came at him and swung his spear around in a showy fashion like one would a staff. Grasshopper jabbed his sword forward and stopped the swinging, then forced the spear out of the guard's hands. Grasshopper then hit the guard with the butt of his sword, making him fall.

Next, two guards were bold enough. Grasshopper looked as they came from each side. He dove forward at the last second, but the guards had stopped in time. They then both charged Grasshopper's direction, but Grasshopper was still on the ground. He stuck out his arms and tripped the two guards, making them fall down and get knocked out.

Grasshopper stood and panted, then looked at Mognar. Suddenly, there was a metallic poke in his back.

"So it was you!" Viscen growled from behind Grasshopper, "I had my doubts about the article, but here we are!"

"You let this scoundrel in!" Mognar shouted, "If you wish to keep your job, incapacitate him!"

"Viscen…" Grasshopper pleaded, only to believe in his innocence, for he didn't need Viscen's mercy, "You know me.

"Apparently not well enough!"

Grasshopper hesitated, breathing in and out, then swiftly twirled out of the way as Viscen jabbed forward. He faced Viscen and Viscen, rather than taking his spear in, swung it to the side and hit Grasshopper's side. Grasshopper gave a yelp and almost was unable to sidestep another jab. This time, it got him barely, scratching his tunic and making a thin red line in his side.

Grasshopper went on the offensive, making swipes with his sword that Viscen always seemed to block with the metal of his spear. Viscen jabbed forward one time and Grasshopper ducked underneath. He then rose and forced the spear into Viscen. Viscen fell backward over a chair. Grasshopper took this opportunity to knock down one of the pictures hanging from a wall.

"He's wrecking my office again!" Mognar howled.

"What are you doing!" Viscen demanded.

"Behind one of these pictures…" Grasshopper said, knocking another one down.

"Stop that at once!" Viscen shouted, rammed at Grasshopper.

With a yelp, Grasshopper jumped out of the way. Viscen's spear hit the wall casing a nearby picture to fall. Behind that fallen picture was indeed a safe built into the wall.

"There!" Grasshopper shouted.

"This?" Viscen asked, "This is where the mayor keeps his personal finances, his own money, if you will. You wanted to be a thief, too?"

"No!" Grasshopper insisted, "Open it, Viscen. If you open it and you see nothing out of the ordinary, then I will willingly stop this and be jailed…"

Viscen looked at the safe, to Grasshopper, then to the safe again, "Deal."

"You can't!" Mognar shouted.

"If you have nothing to hide, then you shouldn't hide it." Viscen said.

His position as Admiral gave him information like the combination to the mayor's safe. He clicked the knob, and then opened the safe. Grasshopper breathed in, sweat beading his brow.

The safe contained a mayor's ransom in rupees. All colors, and a lot of them.

"Wh-what is this!" Viscen demanded, "There are entirely too many rupees in here!"

Something glinted from Mognar's desk. Grasshopper kicked the desk and from it dropped an enormous bag of rupees. There was a gasp.

"Have you been… hoarding rupees!"

"I get it now!" Grasshopper said, "Mognar has been somehow been hoarding rupees and keeping them from Clock Town. Since the money supply dropped, the economy plummeted. Mognar ran for office, gave some of the money back, and thought he could live in he lap of luxury for the rest of his life."

Mognar sighed, "Yes, yes… it's all true. You may also find a bag of rupees behind that plant.

All eyes turned to the plant. Viscen then said, "I see no bag."

When they looked back, Mognar was gone.

Mognar took off down the hallways of the mayor's offices with the large bag over his shoulder. He shoved people out of his way and burst through the door. Suddenly, he tripped. The bag fell and spilled some rupees. Mognar looked and saw that Jim of the Bombers had been under his feet and had tripped him.

"You little…!"

"Don't look up, Mognar." Jim said with a nasty grin. Mognar looked up and saw the other four bombers on the roof, each with a large basket of eggs, "Let's show him why we're called the 'Bombers,' men!"

The Bombers all gave war cries as they pelted Mognar with eggs. Mognar fell to the ground shouting in pain and covered in yolk. Afterward, the Bombers all shouted in celebration.

At this time, Grasshopper and the guards had come out and saw Mognar on the ground. Viscen growled and picked the fake mayor up, "You're going to be put away for a long time!"

"Oh dear…" Mognar wheezed.

-

Cremia and Romani were in the barn with the cows when Grasshopper returned.

"My goodness!" Cremia said upon Grasshopper's arrival, indicating the cut he had suffered, "What happened!"

"Come into the house," Grasshopper said, "It's a long story."

After explanation, Cremia had said, "I knew he was a frivolous airhead," which prompted Romani to laugh.

"What happened afterward?" Romani asked.

"Well, the old mayor was found and put back in charge. The hidden rupees were re-distributed, making the economy so much better, so we can expect some compensation for all the shortcomings before."

Cremia nodded with a smile.

"The Romani Ranch was reinstated as the primary providers to Clock Town and the deposit given to the Gormans was refunded. But on a lesser note, no connection to the Gormans was found. Therefore, they got off easy."

"Oh well… can't win them all." Cremia said.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Cremia answered it, gasped, and then called for Grasshopper and Romani to come. Outside was the Carpenter. With him, however, was a beautiful horse, big enough for Grasshopper and passengers to ride, and its color seeming a mix of brown and red.

"Grasshopper!" The Capenter called out, "You've done so much for Clock Town. However, nobody is more thankful for your actions than the mayor. To thank you, he has given you this horse. I, uh, think it's female."

"It's so pretty!" Romani squealed.

"Thank you very much." Cremia said.

"Yes… tell the mayor 'thank you' from the bottom of our hearts."

"Will do!" The Carpenter said, making his exit.

Grasshopper approached the horse and stroked her muzzle. The horse made a soft snort of approval. Romani seemed to take the horse with much more excitement, as she rubbed the horse's side and nuzzled it.

"During the time Link was here," Cremia explained to Grasshopper, "he also had his horse, Epona. Romani loved that horse. When he left, Romani wanted to get one so badly. We, of course, couldn't afford one. But now… oh, this is so great." A sentimental tear came to her eye at seeing Romani happier than she had in a while.

Grasshopper grinned and patted the horse's side, "What should we name her?"

"I don't know… she's your horse." Cremia shrugged.

"Hmm…" Grasshopper looked down and saw Romani being licked by the horse and giggling. He then got an idea, "She shall be called 'Butterfly.'"

Romani gasped and looked up, "That's my nickname!"

"Yeah… and it's going to be this horse's name."

"That's so cool!" Romani squealed again and tried her best to hug the horse.

Cremia laughed softly, "A better name could not have been chosen."

-

Clock Town can rest easier now that they know their mayor is the best one they have as the sun sets on Clock Town, on the Romani Ranch, and even on the Gorman Track, where the two brothers were bawling at their loss.


	10. A Day at the Beach

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 10: A Day at the Beach**

_She is all that matters._

_He never felt love before, but he knew that that is what he had with her. When you are in love, your lover is all that matters. All that matters. Matters. All that matters._

_No hero. No master. No friends. She is all that matters._

_She is all that matters matters no hero no master she is all all all that matters hero no hero no master no master she is no master no hero she matters is all she matters._

_Consider yourself exiled._

_It's all gone._

-

Very little did Grasshopper react to his dreams, but this one was unlike the others, chaotic. Images flashed by and emotions somersaulted through so fast that Grasshopper was still at the beginning when it ended. What was with that rant at the end? That couldn't signify… insanity, could it?

-

It was well into the morning before Grasshopper could forget that dream. However, he did get a bit of good news at this time at the breakfast table.

"Go to the beach." Cremia said, "There's no work to do today and I think you and Romani could use the time off."

"Wait…" Grasshopper couldn't believe what he heard, "Me… and Romani?"

"Sure! You don't know how disappointed she gets when you travel all over Termina and leave her behind!"

"It's true." Romani piqued.

"So, what do you say?" Cremia asked.

"I don't know…" Grasshopper muttered, there had to be the catch.

"Are you sweeping us under the rug?" Romani asked suddenly.

Cremia looked at her sister with a start, but then sighed, "Yes… I am. I'm meeting with some… people about ranch matters and I'd appreciate it if I did it alone."

"That's all I need to hear." Grasshopper said, "Come on, Kiddo."

Grasshopper and Romani walked outside so he had room to play the Song of Soaring.

"Have fun, you two." Cremia called after, "And don't worry about Butterfly, I'll take good care of her!"

Grasshopper nodded with a grin as he took out the Multitask and played the Song of Soaring. Directly after, a pair of wings took him and Romani away.

-

While in the sky, Grasshopper took Cremia's suggestion to go to the beach to heart and in the blink of an eye; he and Romani were there. More specifically, they were next to an owl statue next to an odd building. It was a short swim to shore. When there, Romani looked all around at the scenery.

"It's so pretty! Romani's only been here once before!"

"Really?" Grasshopper asked, also looking around, "It's a shame you don't come here more often."

His attention turned to an odd object that seemed jammed into the sand. He walked over to it and noticed that it was a fish bone guitar. For whatever reason, Grasshopper felt a connection with this seemingly randomly placed guitar. He stared at his for a second, and then joined Romani in combing the beach.

"There's the fisherman's hut!" Romani said, pointing over to a building in the distance.

"Why is there a half-finished building right next to it?" Grasshopper asked, assuming Romani would know.

"I don't know. It wasn't there before."

"Let's check it out."

As they approached, Grasshopper recognized an all-too-familiar yelling. He considered covering Romani's ears, but it didn't sound profane. When they entered the fisherman's hut, the fisherman looked like he saw a ghost while none other than the Clock Town carpenter was there shouting his head off.

"No-good idiots! Morons! Imbeciles!"

"Excuse me!" Grasshopper cut into the yelling, wondering who could possibly incur the wrath of the carpenter with such a vengeance.

"Huh!" The carpenter grunted, and then looked at Grasshopper, "Oh, it's you. Heard me yelling, did you?"

"I think the populace of Cape Zora heard you."

"The carpenter's men were kidnapped by Gerudos!" The fisherman said, "It's the first time anything like this has ever happened!"

Grasshopper had only heard of the Gerudo, but knew enough to know that those men were in deep trouble, "Wow… you make it seem like it was their fault!"

"Of course it was! Their my," The carpenter sniffed, swallowed, then said in a high-pitched voice, "men…"

Grasshopper couldn't help but grinning for two seconds. That old softie. It seemed he, the carpenter, Romani, and even the fisherman knew what Grasshopper was going to say next.

"I'll save them!"

"You'll what!" Demanded the other three.

"I'll break your men out of the Gerudo fortress!"

"Don't do it!" Romani shouted, tugging at Grasshopper's tunic, "The ladies there are bad! Every time I say anything, Sister always said bad things and changes the subject!"

"The girl's right," The fisherman got in a word in, "as sexy as those Gerudos are, they'll throw you in a dungeon or just kill you on the spot! … Though it would be nice for the work on my bedroom house to be finished…"

The other three looked at him.

"What? I, um, planned to run an inn service. You know… make some money…"

Grasshopper kneeled to Romani, "It just wouldn't be me to let this go… you understand?"

"Yes." Romani said.

"Okay. You stay here and I'll be back before you know it."

Romani nodded sadly, but couldn't help but to get a rush knowing that Grasshopper was about to do something heroic. Grasshopper bade farewell to the two men and walked out, shortly walking in to ask where the Gerudo fortress was.

-

Grasshopper ran in the direction indicated by the two men and saw, well, the backside of the Gerudo fortress. Maybe if he circled around, he would find a better entrance. He got in the water and began to swim around, but then noticed something below the water. He went under and noticed a passage in and some planks over it, as if there had been more there, but they were smashed off. Grasshopper resurfaced, took a deep breath, and then went back under and through the opening.

He had not expected a current. Of course, fans in the walls supplied this current, but he didn't expect it nonetheless. Rather than panicking, Grasshopper rolled up into a ball and let the current take him wherever. Eventually, a wall struck his back and made him exhale. He saw all that precious oxygen he used to have stored float up to… a surface! Grasshopper thanked luck and swam up. Once he surfaced, he took a deep breath.

He noticed he was in a little notch in the ground. He peeked over and saw the inside of the Gerudo fortress. Sure enough, the women pirates were dotted all over, in lookout, on boats, just walking around. Grasshopper climbed out of the square hole and looked around, seeing that none were looking his way. He then started to wonder just where those carpenters were.

Traversing the fortress was simple enough until Grasshopper tried rounding a corner and saw a Gerudo doing the same. He backed up and flattened himself up against the wall, wondering how he'd take her out. Maybe he'd hit her with the butt of his sword? Maybe cut off her oxygen until she passed out? The footfalls got closer. He decided to just jump out and do what comes naturally.

Suddenly, there was a whoosh and an impact followed by a yelp of surprise and pain, then a moan. Grasshopper looked to see the Gerudo lying on the ground, an arrow right next to her, as if it struck her on the top of the head, then landed on the ground.

"You really should have been more careful."

Grasshopper turned around to see Romani behind him.

"Woah!" He yelped, and then pointed, "You were supposed to be with the fisherman and the carpenter!"

"And what?" Romani asked, "Listen to that loud man shout and the fisherman look at his pictures of Gerudos? I sneaked out when they started arguing about something."

"Well, you're already here," Grasshopper sighed, "but you're going to have to help me in breaking out the carpenter's men!"

"Okay!" Romani said with a giggle.

-

Once again for a while, the operation was going without a hitch, Romani taking down any Gerudo who was a liability. However, at one point, there was a large group of Gerudo approaching, talking about whatever. Grasshopper saw another square hole like the one he came in, but not the same one. He grabbed Romani and jumped in, treading water. One of the Gerudo in the group turned her head and claimed to have seen something. Grasshopper and Romani exchanged worried looks as the Gerudo's footfalls got louder. Grasshopper considered diving into the water, but for how long would they he able to stay under. Just as suddenly, Grasshopper felt a hand grasp the back of his collar.

"Breathe in deep." A voice said. Grasshopper and Romani complied.

Once they were done, the hand pulled them down and rushed away. A lone bubble was all that remained of their presence. It vanished just as the oncoming Gerudo looked into the hole. She reported that she was just hearing things.

After a while, Grasshopper felt himself break the surface of the water and get lowered to the ground. He and Romani gasped for a bit before looking up at their savior. Or saviors, to be correct. They were two teenage Zoras, but not just any two.

"Rist and Tan!" Grasshopper said, remembering those two from all that time ago when he visited Cape Zora and they had all played Fin.

"Dude… you remember us! That's so cool!" Rist said, giving Grasshopper a high-five.

"What were you thinking!" Tan said in the same voice as if Grasshopper had snuck in for thrills, "That was some wicked covert work you guys were pulling off!"

Romani, now fully recovered, blushed a bit.

"We weren't doing it for fun, guys." Grasshopper said, "There is a group of men in there who need our help."

"For real?" Rist asked, looking serious for once.

"We have to help out, man!" Tan said to his friend.

"That goes without saying. At least this is better than just following somebody around on her whims."

"Who?" Grasshopper asked.

"Oh. Dude." Rist snickered, and then leaned toward Grasshopper, "You remember Zenkit, right? Tried pulling you under? We were hanging out and she totally sees you going toward the fortress and tells us we have to come along. We thought you had it under control, but she gets all huffy on us! Hell hath no fury, man."

Grasshopper looked past him and saw the female Zora looking meekly back, her face entirely purple.

"Ever since she saw you playing fin, G. Totally head-over-heels." Tan shook his head in mock shame.

Grasshopper smiled and nodded, then walked over to Zenkit. She tried to avert his gaze.

"Um, thanks for getting those guys to come here. I'd probably be jailed…" He thought about what the fisherman had said, "Or… killed on the spot."

"It's… not a problem… really."

Romani tilted her head, "Why is she being so shy?"

"You'll know when you're older." Tan said.

-

The team of Grasshopper, Romani, Rist, Tan, and Zenkit were an irrepressible force; somehow able to make it across without being caught, and any Gerudos who dropped from the ceiling to attack were easily beaten by the four older members.

"Is that them?" Rist asked.

He pointed at a cage where the carpenter's men were holding the bars, pacing around, etcetera.

"Yeah!" Grasshopper said, remembering them.

After tearful "thank you"s, the carpenter's men all ran off. Somehow, Grasshopper knew they'd be okay. Now the task was for the group to get themselves out.

"I saw a shortcut back there." Zenkit said, pointing off in a direction.

Part of this shortcut entailed going over a catwalk that overlooked the throne room of the Gerudo fortress. Tan went first, followed by Rist. Zenkit started, then Grasshopper, holding Romani's hand, went. However, he heard a booming voice with authority.

"Nesira!"

Grasshopper looked over to the unfolding scene below, and in effect Romani did as well. There was, apparently, the leader of the Gerudo Pirates and in front of her were two other Gerudos restraining a third. This Gerudo looked different than the others. Where the others had noses of significantly bigger sizes, hers was relatively "normal." Also, her skin tone was not as brown as the rest, more like tan. The most notable difference was that she had a theme of green. She had green hair in a ponytail, green lipstick and eye shadow, green breastplates, and pale green pants. Grasshopper bet that her eyes were probably green, too… almost like a tree had become Gerudo.

"Nesira," the leader repeated, "how long have you been with the Gerudo Pirates?"

Nesira paused, and then said, "A month and a half… maybe two."

Grasshopper took note of that. His memory went back only three months, to the day he was found at the Romani Ranch.

"And how many times, in that frame, have you failed to carry out orders given to you, by, me, due to inability?"

Nesira sighed, no doubt the leader was making her count, "Twelve."

"Thirteen!" The leader shouted as she lifted her spear and hit the butt against the ground. When she did that, both the Gerudos restraining Nesira turned and punched her in the stomach.

"Thirteen…" Nesira groaned.

"That's quite a hefty bit of failure, I'd say.

"It's your fault for expecting too much of me…"

"Nothing is every my fault!" She gave the signal again and the two Gerudos punched Nesira again.

"Yes, Aveilia…"

"Now… what am I going to do with you? Perhaps some time in solitary confinement will do you good. Or perhaps just killing you and cutting my losses now will work?"

"No!" Nesira shouted, making Aveilia smile, "I don't want to die… I only want to see him again…"

"And you will! But not at this pace! I promised you a favor if you joined, and so far, I have little to no reason to go through with my end of the bargain. We had an important task, and were you there to take part? No."

"I was out searching! You allowed me to go out!"

"Your point?"

" … None. I'm in the wrong."

"Of course you are… you failure."

"That's not fair…" Romani whispered from above, "That green one is only looking for somebody, but that leader is giving her a hard time."

She looked and saw Grasshopper was seething with an irrational hatred. Did he hate Gerudo in general, or just was Aveilia was doing to Nesira? Why would he care? His pause seemed to get some attention, for Zenkit came back.

"G, what's the hold up?" She asked, and then reached for his armband to pull him with her. The armbands had become very, very hot, "Ow!" She shouted.

All Gerudo heads turned toward the three Zoras and two others on the catwalk.

"Oops…" Zenkit squeaked.

"Intruders!" Aveilia screeched, "Nesira, if you want to keep your job, you will catch them!"

"Yes ma'am!" Nesira said and rushed up a set of stairs leading up to the catwalk.

"Split up!" Grasshopper shouted to the three Zoras. He took Romani's hand again and they went off in four separate directions.

-

After the catwalk was a normal, second-story hallway that had many paths. Each Zora took a path and Grasshopper took one of the remaining ones. The path lead to a door, which Grasshopper opened. Inside was an empty room, most likely to trap intruders. He silently cursed in his mind when the door flung open again. In the doorway was none other than Nesira herself brandishing her scimitar.

"Give up!" She gasped, obviously tired from all the beatings she took.

Grasshopper nudged Romani away and unsheathed his sword, "Not an option!" Truth was, he was tired as well. He had to hold his breath under water an abundance of times, had to fight Gerudos even more often, and a lot of his sneaking around was stressful and energy-consuming.

"Then prepare to die!" Nesira shouted as she flung herself at Grasshopper.

Grasshopper was ready to receive her and did, blocking her incoming attack of he scimitar. He groaned in effort, and then forced her off. She stumbled back a bit, an act that Grasshopper would have taken advantage off, but he had his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Nesira came again and this time swordplay started, albeit at a snail's pace. At one point, the scimitar grinded against the sword and they stayed there, Grasshopper not able to force her off, when she lost her balance and tripped forward, leaning against Grasshopper. Normally, Grasshopper would have tried to shove her off, but his arm muscles ached. They just stood there, her leaning on him, both drenched in sweat.

Their skin became hot, not because of the fight, but because of the close contact. Grasshopper especially, because since she was leaning, he could feel her heavy breaths on and down his neck, which made him shiver. He eventually got the strength and kind of nudged her, but he had to back up to get her off. They both stood there, eyeing each other, waiting for the other to make a move. This moment of peace did more bad than good, for they both got in much more of each other than they could bear. Both immensely sweaty and he also wet from coming into contact with water so many times, making the green tunic cling to his chest to skintight proportions. Grasshopper had no worse a view as Nesira's sweat made her glisten in the dim light, her flat stomach and curvaceous form, not to mention the significantly large chest, all contributing to some kind of fantasy. Grasshopper was right. Her eyes were green. For a second or two, both their thoughts turned to wild animal lust, then at the same time, were brought back down to Termina in time to resume the fight at hand.

They both came at the same time and swung their weapons. They connected and flew to opposite sides of the room. Grasshopper thought of getting his sword back, but saw that Nesira was ready to take him down if he did. Sensing he was on to her, Nesira adopted a hand-to-hand fighting stance and edged forward. Grasshopper stood ready and was able to dodge some swift punches and kicks. He countered by catching her leg, but ended up dropping it, to tired to spin her.

Nesira jabbed forward with a fist, but Grasshopper caught it. It happened again, but with the other hand. He then tried his hardest to twist her arms into painful positions, which she grunted in effort to reverse.

"Say 'uncle!'" Grasshopper gasped.

Nesira panted, "Never!" She then kicked forward toward the one area that no male would want to be kicked in.

Grasshopper yelped, let go, and hopped back. If he had reacted a second later… He shook his head and this time went on the offensive. He thrust a fist over, missed, and stumbled forward. Nesira caught him and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind, but just stopped, hands resting on his chest. They both had to stop and breathe for a second. Sometime before then, Nesira had lost whatever kept her hair in a ponytail, for it was now messed up and untamed and had fallen in Grasshopper's face. For two seconds, he had smelled her hair and was reminded of the beach.

Eventually fatigue overcame both of them and they just fell. Of course, Grasshopper fell back, making Nesira fall forward. He fell on his back and she on top. Her left side was pressed to his.

"I don't need this…" Nesira whined.

"I don't think any of us do." Grasshopper responded.

"Grown-ups are so weird." Romani shook her head. She then took out a bottle of milk, "Thirsty?"

"Am I ever." Grasshopper said in a monotone, getting from under Nesira, who slumped to the floor. Romani handed the milk to Grasshopper who downed it all in a swig. He wiped his mouth and seemed entirely rejuvenated, "Wow… that stuff is great!"

"Do you want some?" Romani asked the Gerudo on the ground after getting the bottle back.

"Romani!" Grasshopper warned.

"What? She looks like she could use it."

Nesira scowled and took the bottle, drinking the rest of its contents. She let the bottle down in Romani's general direction. Immediately she picked herself off the ground, astounded at the gained energy and disappeared pain.

"Feeling better?" Grasshopper grinned.

"So… now I owe you?" Nesira sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah!" Romani said, "You can start by helping us get out!"

Nesira laughed, "You sure have a lot of guts and a loud mouth, kid. Too bad you're not Gerudo."

Grasshopper placed a hand on Romani's shoulder, "I'll thank you gladly not to poison her mind with such things… what?"

Nesira had been looking at Grasshopper in an odd way, "Oh… you just remind me of a person I know… but that's not important now."

"Yeah… what's important is that I wish to know why you follow this woman Aveilia."

"Hunh? Well, don't you like to pry? I think you heard. I'm looking for somebody and she agreed to help. Who in that Clock Town would take me in, anyway?"

"So you went to Clock Town, then?"

"… Not really. I just assumed they'd be hostile to a Gerudo like me."

Romani craned her neck up, "That's not true! I bet Miss Anju would give you a room at her Inn!"

"Besides," Grasshopper said, "You don't look too much like a normal Gerudo."

"I'm only half Gerudo and I'll thank you to stop prying now!" Nesira folded her arms and looked away, "But I suppose that giving Clock Town a try wouldn't be too unbearable."

"It's more bearable that how you have it now! You're better than all this."

"Oh… and how do you know that?"

Grasshopper paused. How did he?

"I don't know. I guess I just assumed that you were."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Oh, very well. Let's get out of here."

Grasshopper took Romani by the hand as Nesira lead the way out. They met up with the three Zoras and one explanation later, the group of six was making their way to the exit. Of course, they couldn't be so lucky as to leave undetected.

-

"Halt!" Aveilia's voice boomed. All six stopped and looked as Aveilia was accompanied by perhaps every other Gerudo in the fortress, "Thought you could escape the Gerudo fortress alive, could you? Nesira, constrain them!"

Nesira exchanged glances with Grasshopper, then nodded, "How about you constrain your large mouth, you cow!"

All the Gerudo guards gasped in horror. A vein popped on Aveilia's head, "Wh… Wha… What did you call me!" She howled.

"A cow! C – O – W! And another thing, I bet you treated me like dirt because you didn't like me, well I have good news, I hate you, you witch! Yeah, I also called you a witch! You're a cow and a witch! A cow witch!"

Grasshopper put a hand on Nesira's shoulder, "Okay, I think you've adequately vented."

"Maybe." Rist muttered.

"Destroy them all!" Aveilia shrieked, flinging a finger towards the other group. The opposing Gerudos charged forward.

"This is more like it!" Nesira chirped, charging in head-on.

"Oh yeah… she's a keeper." Tan had said before the six on impossible-to-count war began.

They were outnumbered at least three to two but were winning. Grasshopper had, of course, taken out his sword to fight, Nesira had her trusty scimitar, Rist and Tan had shoulder-mounted boomerangs to work with while Zenkit put her hand-to-hand combat training to good use. Even Romani climbed to a high place and shot at Gerudos from above with her bow.

Grasshopper anticipated the scimitars of two of the Gerudos aiming for his neck. He ducked under them, then held out his arms to trip the two Gerudos, a little trick he remembered from his fight with the Clock Town guards. As they got up, Grasshopper took the opportunity to leap to one side and place a kick to one of the Gerudos' sides, throwing her into the other and causing them both to go out cold.

Nesira had gone what can only be described as "postal" on the coming guards. With a mischievous grin she ran forward and smashed another guard's scimitar, forcing the other Gerudo back into others and making a pile. They all decided that the one who did this to them and the traitor amongst their ranks should be first to die. They all go up and charged Nesira, who got ready to receive them when several arrows came down upon some of the Gerudos. The remaining Gerudos of the group were quickly downed by flying Zoran boomerangs. From above, Romani gave Nesira a thumbs-up. She then ducked out of the way and dismissed herself from the room.

Another aspect of the fight that should be mentioned was the blood. Just because they didn't want to kill anybody did not mean that the smaller group did not cause their opposition to shed blood. Plenty of times Nesira had put deep a gash in a former comrade's skin and Zoran boomerangs weren't exactly paper-thin. Grasshopper was even influenced by Nesira and got careless with his swordplay, and more frighteningly was beginning to enjoy it, almost as if it was Nesira who enabled him to do so

Once the fight was over and the dust had cleared, so to speak, the five fighters on the floor looked around at each other, fatigued and covered in blood other than their own. There was a sudden sharp movement in the corner of the room and Nesira was on it. She emerged pulling Aveilia out by her hair.

"Let… go of me!" Aveilia demanded.

Nesira tossed her on the floor in front of her, "I'm not going to give you the torture of begging for your life… I'm not that low. However, I shall agree that nothing that happens is your fault…" She then reeled back and punched Aveilia hard in the face, causing the regal Gerudo to fly back and spin, landing on her stomach, "I full-heartedly take all responsibility for my actions."

There was a solemn walk of victory after the five of them had washed off all the Gerudo blood, much to Nesira's dismay at having to do so.

"Where's Romani?" Grasshopper realized. He barely started to look around when the crimson-haired girl came from directly in front of them.

"You guys won!" Romani chirped happily as she ran up to Grasshopper.

"Yeah…" Grasshopper trailed off, then said, "You didn't see it… all, did you?"

"No… I left pretty much after it started."

Grasshopper sighed in relief. All the blood and fallen bodies in the room behind them was not a sight a little girl Romani's age should see.

-

The group of six made their way to the sea hut where the carpenter's men were hard at work as always. By the way he was shouting at them to work, you couldn't tell the carpenter had missed them.

"Thanks a lot…" The carpenter had said, then looked to his men, "And I mean that in a sarcastic way! I was this close to getting a new, less motley crew!"

There was a quiet, but disbelieving murmur among the men. Apparently, they had caught the carpenter in mid-half-sob when they had returned.

"It was our pleasure to help you out." Grasshopper said with a courteous nod.

Respective good-byes for the Zoras were next as the group stopped at the edge of the water, Cape Zora easily reached as the crow flies.

"It's been real, G." Rist said as he and Grasshopper exchanged a handshake, "Busting up Gerudos and saving lives… you sure know how to throw a wicked party!"

"I'd prefer a snack table and some games, trust me." Grasshopper said, inspiring laughs.

"Guess who wants to say good-bye… alone." Tan muttered, jerking a webbed thumb over to Zenkit, looking over as the horizon… or maybe she was pretending to.

Grasshopper got the hint and walked over to where Zenkit was looking. The Zora looked around at Grasshopper, as if expecting him. Either she was setting this up, or she just expected him to come, as was his way.

"How are you feeling?" Grasshopper asked as he came within a good distance.

"Oh… not bad. My hands are a bit sore… I think I punched a guard too hard."

"There's no such thing as 'too hard' when it comes to a charging Gerudo guard."

"I guess so."

"Well… I more meant to inquire about your state of mind."

"Oh… I had fun! Despite nearly dying so many times and being caught in such a huge battle, the fact that we won made it fun."

"I'm glad you had a good time… because I'd be guilty if you utterly hated it."

"That'd be impossible… with you, that is."

"Excuse me?"

Zenkit turned a shade of purple, "I don't rightly know. It just seemed that you made normal things, like a battle, or a time ago, a game of fin seem not so normal any more."

"I'm just… one of those people!"

"Yeah…"

There was a bit of a silence where Zenkit just looked at Grasshopper as he tried to avoid her gaze. It seemed that she would finally capture it until Nesira leapt to a spot between them.

"Are you kids just going to stand there all day or actually say your good-byes? We all have places to be!"

Zenkit nearly jumped, "Oh, yes. Sorry for keeping you so long! I hope to see you all later!" Then with a look at Nesira she turned around and muttered, "Most of you, at least."

Once the trio of Zoras was sure that they were all accounted for, they dove into the ocean and swam for Cape Zora. One could tell Rist and Tan started a race, for their retreating forms were swimming away much faster than Zenkit's.

-

The last loose end to resolve was Nesira's staying at Clock Town. To save time, Grasshopper suggested a short cut. Of course, he never really told Nesira what the short cut entailed, so when a pair of wings enveloped them, she did not expect it. Shortly the wings relented and landed Grasshopper, Romani, and Nesira in southern Clock Town. Nesira's reaction was typical.

"What the hell was that!" She demanded after recovering.

"It's called the Song of Soaring." Grasshopper said with a grin, "I can use it to go anywhere, provided one of these owl statues can serve as a landing area."

"That's pretty cool! Take me somewhere else!" Nesira said all-too-merrily.

"Not until you register at the inn."

Nesira wore a five second expression that said, "Damn." It was a short walk to the Stock Pot Inn.

"Umm… you first." Nesira said.

"Not happening. In you go." Grasshopper said, firmly placing a hand on her bare back and pushing her into the door.

The door to the Stock Pot Inn opened and Anju, at the desk, turned to attention, wearing her typical warm smile. Nesira, knowing she was too far in to turn back, calmly walked up to the desk.

"Hello." Nesira muttered, already hearing the frightened yelps of a receptionist girl. "She's robbing me!" She'll say, "The evil Gerudo is robbing me!"

Instead, Anju responded to Nesira's greeting, "Hello, welcome to the Stock Pot Inn. How may I help you?"

Nesira resisted the urge to give Anju a look like she was crazy, then said, "I'd like a room… I don't know for how long."

"Well, it turns out we have a room for one. Is that fine?"

"Yeah."

"All right! Here is the key, and the room number is on that key. You can pay some rupees up front later or tomorrow morning. Have a nice stay!"

Nesira took the key and smiled, the feeling of the retreating nervousness felt good, "Thank you."

Grasshopper watched from the door and folded his arms in the most "I told you so" look ever given. Nesira beckoned for him to follow. Displayed great naivety, Grasshopper told Romani to talk with Anju while he talked to Nesira for whatever reason. After all that came to pass, Grasshopper followed Nesira to the room in which the number matched the one on the key. When they entered, Nesira immediately sat on a bed. Grasshopper, with no better ideas, just stood.

"Well…" Nesira started, "That was… interesting."

"I told you that you had nothing to worry about." Grasshopper smirked.

"Yeah, yeah… I guess the people of Termina can be nice, after all."

"Aww, come now. There are plenty of people in the world that are nice. One evil Gerudo captain can't represent the rest of us."

"What are you-?" Nesira began, but stopped herself. She began to chuckled, "Silly me and my overgeneralizations."

"I concur."

There was a bit of a silence, then Nesira spoke again, "I can tell by your mannerism that you're the type who changes a life a day, am I right?"

Grasshopper shifted his weight, "You could say that."

"I'm life number ten made better, am I right?" She laughed softly.

"I'm not exactly counting."

Nesira stood up and slowly walked around the room, "What I'm trying to say is, well, thank you. I'm sure you're tired of that by now."

"Not really." Grasshopper smiled, looking through the room's window, "If anything, it validates my actions, to hear another's thanks. I'd never get tired of that."

"Nice guy."

"You probably think I'm too nice, don't you?"

"Do you even have a bad side?" Nesira asked after leaning against the wall opposite Grasshopper.

"I don't quite know… but if I do, I don't want to meet him."

Nesira looked off, "Everybody has a bad side… even if they deny it. It will come get you some day if you neglect it. A bad side is like a parasite. You are supposed to keep it nurtured and all it does is hurt you."

"I suppose, then, ignorance is not always bliss."

Nesira nodded, and then furrowed her brow, "What the hell are we talking about!"

"I thought you knew!" Grasshopper said and they both laughed.

Grasshopper pinched the bridge of his nose and had his eyes closed when he laughed, but when he opened them, Nesira was no further than mere inches from him. He was about to tell her about this, but his mouth had been instantly covered by hers.

It took a second for Grasshopper to register what had just started. Nesira had literally leapt forward and wrapped her arms around him and started to firmly kiss him. He tried to keep balance, for it seemed she tried taking him down to the floor. Once he was in a good enough balance, the thought occurred to him that he had to end this. Fortunately, Nesira had pushed herself off of him and proceeded to slap him.

"Oww!" Grasshopper yelped, "What the hell! You kiss me!" He yelled, with an emphasis on the words "you" and "me" to pre-empt the accusation of the opposite claim.

"Then how come you didn't stop me from doing it!" Nesira said sharply in a quiet voice.

"I had only a fraction of a second to respond! You just pounced!"

"Then why didn't you push me off!"

"Your knee was between my legs! I'm sure any action I took to stop that would have proven not kind for me!"

Once again, silence gripped the room, only broken by pants of the two inside.

"I'm sorry…" Nesira said at last, "I have no clue what came over me…"

"Well… we did kind of share that moment back at the fortress."

Nesira thought back to that moment when they both got a good look at each other and the lust was so thick that not even a sword could cut it.

"That… probably was it. Thing is… my heart already belongs to another."

Grasshopper nodded as if already knowing that, then finally realized what she said, "Oh… really?"

"Disappointed?"

"No… more like interested."

"Humph. Nothing really to tell. I'm looking for this man that I love. It's the whole reason why I came to…the Gerudo Pirate fortress."

"Thought they could help but ended up taking advantage of you, huh?"

"Yes yes." Nesira muttered, "Oh… it's getting late. You should fly on home."

"I think I'll do just that." Grasshopper grinned and gave a salute, "Bye."

Nesira closed the door as he left, "See you later…"

-

After he left the room, Grasshopper took some time to assess the situation and just what happened in that room. Nesira didn't really forge any deep relationship, did she? She already said her heart belonged to another, so it really shouldn't be a problem. He shook all troublesome thoughts out of his head and went downstairs. After he retrieved Romani, they were both back at the Romani Ranch one Song of Soaring later.

When they landed at the owl statue, Romani took off in an excited run toward her home. Grasshopper merely walked and happened to take a look around and in back of where they landed; he noticed the retreating form of a carriage. Judging by its position, it had to have come from the ranch. Did it take Cremia this long to resolve her farm business? Romani was calling for him to catch up, so he put it aside for now.

Surprisingly enough, Cremia seemed to be waiting for them at the edge of the ranch… either that, or perhaps seeing that aforementioned carriage off.

"Oh! Well hello, you two!"

"Hi, sister!" Romani said as she ran up to her sister, "I don't know about Grasshopper, but Romani had the best time at the beach!"

"Oh, really? What did you do there?"

"We fought pirates!"

Grasshopper had leapt over to silence Romani too late, "Um… it's true. The carpenter's men were captured there and I wanted to help out. Romani tagged along unexpectedly."

Cremia sighed, "After living with her for so long, I've become desensitized from Romani putting herself in danger's way. Now I just sit back and watch the show… because everything always seems to come out so well for her."

"I'm lucky!" Romani stated before being told to go get ready for bed.

"… And how are you?" Cremia asked Grasshopper once Romani was out of earshot.

"I'm just great." Grasshopper said with a nod, not mentioning he still had a bit of a buzz from his little encounter with Nesira at the inn, "I'm more curious about you and your ranch business. Romani may be precocious, but she seemed to have forgotten why you let her go with me."

"Oh, yes, that. Well, all went accordingly. I'm sure you don't need to be tormented by me going on and on about the details."

"I suppose not. Did that caravan leaving just now have anything to do with it?"

"Oh… so you saw it leaving?"

"Yeah… did whatever it was you need to do take that long?"

For a second, almost a second, Cremia looked shameful, but quickly stopped, "Oh, no it didn't. After all business, he visited a bit."

"Oh, how nice." Grasshopper took special note of her using the word "he."

"You must be tired." Cremia said to break the silence, "You can tell me all about your pirate adventures in the morning."

They both made their ways into the house.

-

It did indeed seem that Grasshopper was tired from the various activities undertaken that one day as he slept like a rock as the moon glowed in the sky. Back at the Stock Pot Inn, Nesira laid her head on her pillow at nearly the same time as the moon's brilliant light illuminated her features, as if gracing her new life ahead.


	11. Koo loo limpah!

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 11: Koo-loo Limpah!**

_Where were you?_

_With her. You allowed me to go._

_We were destroyed!_

_It's not my fault._

_Of course it is! You are supposed to be here when the army is under attack!_

_I didn't know._

_I sent you a gut-feeling through the cursed metal!_

_I felt nothing._

_A likely excuse! You… you failed everybody! You failed your fellow soldiers… you failed your country! Worst of all, you failed me._

_It was out of my control._

_Nothing is in your control. You failure. Consider yourself exiled._

_What?_

"'_What?' Indeed…"_

-

Surprisingly enough, a dream that frightening did not make Grasshopper wake up in a cold sweat. On the contrary, he felt an involuntary relief, like one does when they pass the suspenseful part of the story and are merely reading the falling action that takes place after the climax. Would this mean that these types of dreams would stop? For some odd reason, if they did, Grasshopper would miss them.

-

Grasshopper couldn't help but to reflect upon that "final" dream, for it was the one that he remembered most vividly of them all. Who were the two people talking? The voices were so slurred that he could not tell… anything. It was about midday when he decided he needed some air to think about this. He conveniently found Cremia in the horse pen.

"Could I take Butterfly out for a ride?" He asked the elder sister, "I feel kind of bad for leaving her behind last time."

Cremia bit her lip and rolled her eyes in thought, "Well, but… you still have some chores to do!"

"Aw, come on!" Grasshopper said, then walked over to the said horse and patted her in the top of the head, "How can you refuse this long face?"

Butterfly looked up at Cremia and one could swear she was going along with it, as her eyes had a pleading sparkle.

"Ohhh… all right! Just… don't be out for too long, okay?"

After Cremia had sighed in defeat and walked off, Grasshopper gave a triumphant smile to his horse. He could have sworn she was precocious enough to return the favor.

-

Against the green of the Termina field, Butterfly was a spot of crimson that stood out in the eye of every soaring bird. The way she took to running, one would think that she wanted to run her whole life, yet never got to. Butterfly was a gift from the Mayor… who knows how cooped up she had been and perhaps the Mayor thought it a good idea to give it to him as a way for her to get out.

Grasshopper laughed a bit and shook his head as he kept his balance on Butterfly's saddle. He came out here to get some fresh air and to think about himself, not his horse. He looked down to the female's face and even from above he could see the glee in which she ran. She really was a beautiful horse. They ran by the large gray walls of Clock Town, which gave Grasshopper an idea. He gently tugged Butterfly's reins in the direction of Clock Town and the horse immediately got the idea, turning and beating a path straight for the town.

-

Needless to say, no head went unturned in Clock Town wherever Grasshopper and Butterfly were present. The majestic beast mounted by the overnight household name soon was on everybody's lips in a good way. A lot of people wishing to be in Grasshopper's place, in control of the awesome horse, and most of the girls wishing to be in place of the horse for most obvious reasons.

Eventually, Grasshopper dismounted to visit his favorite milk bar, Butterfly tied to a post in the most human fashion, though it was doubtful she'd try leaving for any reason. Once inside his favorite milk bar, he came to meet his favorite Clock Town admiral.

"Usually it takes a day or two for you to become the temporary talk of the town," Viscen greeted Grasshopper, "but with that horse, it only took a manner of minutes. I don't know how you do it."

"I really don't try that hard to be known… I just do."

"Hah…" Viscen scoffed in a friendly manner.

"You're acting a bit miffed."

"Oh… well you'll probably find out eventually. It's my duty to keep the peace and stop crimes, right? So it really gets to me when crime goes off without a hitch. It really drives me up when one such villain succeeds many times!"

"… And that's been happening?"

"Yes, yes. We believe this 'winning streak' to be of a thief called Sakon… infamous for his theft of the sun mask a while back. Now he just steals more normal stuff and always gets away with it, despite all the traps and stakeouts I plan."

"Have you ever thought of going to him?"

"It's dangerous and we'd be without guards for a while, which is the last thing that this town needs. Besides… we don't know where to begin."

"Well… I know you'll catch him eventually."

"Heh… thanks." There was a bit of silence, then, "You've never been to Ikana Canyon before, have you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, word travels fast in Termina and I hear of you being everywhere but Ikana Canyon."

"I guess not."

"Interesting things abound in that dry, desolate area. If you're trying to look all over for some clue as to who you are, perhaps you could find something there."

"I'll try that… thank you."

-

After a process of untying Butterfly and asking where was the direction of Ikana Canyon, Grasshopper was soon riding his way to the only corner of Termina where his influence didn't reach. Great adventure always seemed to wait for him wherever he went, so he felt a bit excited as he rode.

Pretty soon he beheld the majestic sands and mountainous walls of Ikana Canyon. Butterfly trotted along slowly, as if also in awe of the scenery. Soon they came to a large area with a house in the middle. Grasshopper got a terrible feeling from the house, as if something evil once circled the premise. As he steered Butterfly over, he soon made her stop and directed her behind a stone formation to hide.

The door to the house opened and from inside a pale, scrawny, bald man appeared. Such an evil appearance… Grasshopper bet his top rupee that this man must be Sakon! Sakon began to leave, something in his hands, a mask. Grasshopper had no time to try to make out what kind of mask it was before a green blur came from behind Sakon.

"Thief, sir!" The green blur shouted.

"Not again…!" Sakon muttered, then leapt backwards. The green blur missed and smashed into the ground at full force.

The green blur had been some odd short man who looked like he wanted to be dressed up as a fairy. The man made an imprint of himself on the ground and was twitching comically. Sakon laughed and ran away in his own unique skipping fashion.

Once Sakon was gone, Grasshopper ran over to the green man and helped him up. The green man stumbled a bit, but then shook his head and seemed to be okay.

"Thank you, sir. However, that bad sir still… hmm?"

A balloon seemed to grow from his back and lift him up. The green man flew around Grasshopper, inspecting him.

"Have I seen you before?"

"That, um, depends…" Grasshopper responded, a bit creeped out, "when do you think you saw me?"

"Hmm… you look just like that sir who was going toward that ranch I like to be by so much!"

"You mean the Romani Ranch?"

"Yes, sir."

"Really? That must have been before I passed out, losing my memory… what did you see?"

"Nothing besides you in armor. I'm sorry, sir."

"No, no. That's okay. Um, my name is Grasshopper."

"Oh! I am Tingle. Nice to meet you, Grasshopper, sir!"

As Tingle bowed, Grasshopper got right to business, "Was that Sakon the thief?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. A very bad sir." Tingle then gasped, "He also still has my quill! Very, very bad sir!"

"Your quill?"

"Oh, yes! I am a very good mapmaker, and I draw my maps using my trusty quill! However… That bad sir Sakon took my quill and I only fear he uses it for the magic!"

Grasshopper raised an eyebrow, "Your quill… is magic?"

"Oh yes, very potent magic! I mainly use it to generate as much ink needed for maps, though."

"Let's get it back, then!"

"Just what I was thinking! I think I saw that bad Sakon heading in that direction!"

Grasshopper looked where Tingle said, then nodded. He whistle for Butterfly, then mounted her as she trotted off to where Tingle lead, flying by balloon.

"I know where he is headed! His hideout is behind a large rock, but I've dared not enter! I know a shortcut so we can get there first!"

"Lead away!"

-

"This is it!" Tingle announced as he landed. Grasshopper hopped off of Butterfly and looked around.

"Is that it?" Grasshopper asked, indicating an oddly large boulder that seemed to cover a slightly smaller hole.

Tingle nodded, "Yes. In moments Sakon will be here to open it up and we will follow him in! A blue-haired man told me how to do this!"

"Right." Grasshopper said, then he, Tingle, and Butterfly hid behind a landmass. Grasshopper kept watch for Sakon, then wondered, "I wonder if I could get inside if I rolled into that crack at a slight angle…"

"Here he comes!" Tingle said in a hushed voice.

Indeed, Sakon began to skip over to his hideout. After a moment of fiddling around with something at the rock door, the large boulder moved, allowing him entry.

"Come, sir!" Tingle indicated the time to move and made it.

"Stay here." Grasshopper told Butterfly, and then followed. The horse obeyed and stayed where she stood.

-

"What in the…?" Grasshopper muttered and looked around. The inside of this wall was… metallic. Sakon must have hollowed it out and built all this as his hideout.

"I see him!" Tingle motioned for Grasshopper to come near.

They both beheld the sight of Sakon as he had two items on a table: The mask he had earlier and Tingle's quill.

"Now… let me see if this works. I want to know what will happen when I use this magical quill on this mask!"

"It looks like he knew all along!" Grasshopper said to Tingle.

Sakon pressed the quill to the mask, causing the latter item to give a great glow. Grasshopper shielded his eyes, and then looked again as the glow died down. Once it did, he saw Tingle wrestling with Sakon for the quill.

"Way to be subtle…" Grasshopper muttered, then went to help out.

Sakon looked at Tingle's help ran over and realized he was outnumbered for this scenario. The thief gave a large kick, shoving Tingle away, then tossed the quill. It sailed over Grasshopper's head; making the green-clad teen skid, then start running back where he came from. The quill landed on an ominous conveyer belt.

"Good luck getting your precious item now!" The pale thief cackled and pulled down a lever, making the conveyer belt start, and it started fast.

"Crap!" Grasshopper yelped and jumped on the conveyer belt. There was a hole at the end and he was sure that if the quill dropped down there, it would be gone forever. The quill was too close to the hole to make a dive for it. The rumbles of the conveyer belt shook the Multitask from its carrying case on a strap around his chest. He caught it, and then got an idea.

Keeping the Multitask in his dominant right hand, he dug his feet into the conveyor belt and grabbed onto a ledge in the "ceiling" of the conveyor belt. The friction caused the conveyor belt to slow down. Then Grasshopper put his plan into motion. Using his only hand, he played the Elegy of Emptiness that he learned in the hole underneath the dog track. Sure enough, he was pushed forward and in his place was a warrior-esque statue of himself in the same position, holding the conveyor belt for him. Grasshopper grinned, thumbed his nose toward the statue, and then ran to the quill.

The quill teetered over the edge of the hole, looking like it was going to go down. Tingle flew on his balloon toward it.

"The quill!" The non-fairy shouted and dove, grabbing the quill, but diving down the hole in the process.

"The Tingle!" Grasshopper shouted in the same fashion unintentionally abusing grammar in a way derogatory to Tingle. He made his own dive and grabbed Tingle by the feet. His superior height helped him not be small enough to endanger himself into the hole, too. Once they got off, Tingle with his quill, the Elegy of Emptiness statue seemed to disappear, having done its purpose.

Grasshopper sighed in relief that all was well, but then remembered how this all started and looked to Sakon, who was blocking the exit.

"Keep the quill." Sakon said, holding up the mask he had earlier. Now Grasshopper got a good look at it and saw it was a Gibdo mask, which gave him chilling reminders of the ReDeads he saw some time ago. He put it aside. "I have the real prize."

"It's… a mask." Grasshopper muttered.

"You aren't from around here, are you, boy?" Sakon sneered, "This land is known for magical masks that bestow fantastic abilities to those who wear them! However, I tailored the magical properties of this one myself. I inversed its properties. Previously all it did was make you a fake of a dead creature."

"So…" Grasshopper muttered in a condescending tone, not taking it seriously, "what? It'll now transform you into a genuine life form that's… twice as alive?"

"Precisely." The thief said, and then pushed the mask to his face. Grasshopper surely did not expect what came next. Sakon hunched, audible moans of effort from his mouth, then gave a piercing shriek as the dividing line between the mask and his face seemed to disappear. A light made Grasshopper look away, which he was really tired of doing. When he looked back, Sakon looked like the mask was now his actual face and was still clothed the same, but where exposed skin used to be, it was now wrapped in Gibdo cloth.

Grasshopper sighed, "I just had to doubt the mask… didn't I?"

"You did doubt it, sir." Tingle said needlessly.

Sakon scoffed, then narrowed his eyes, "It worked better than I imagine. All my senses are intensified and I feel my strength increasing tenfold. As you said, I am more alive than naturally possible."

"Yeah?" Grasshopper responded, trying to not get psyched out, "Well I notice you still have no weapon." He unsheathed his sword and brandished it for Sakon to see, "Let's see how confident you are when you're down a hand." After having fought alongside Nesira back at the beach fortress, Grasshopper became less hesitant about shedding the blood of others if they truly deserved it.

"I'd like to see you try!" Sakon laughed.

Grasshopper gave a little scowl at the challenge. Sakon was too confident. He only hoped that Sakon was being overconfident and that his newfound power wasn't enough to back up his claim.

It was time to see which scenario was right. With a yell, Grasshopper leapt to Sakon, who didn't seem to want to move, and slashed his sword out. Sakon instead brought up his hands and caught the blade between his palms. After a moment of silent disbelief, the powered thief then stylishly waved his hands out to his side and performed a spin kick, which hit its mark on the side of Grasshopper's face. Tingle gave an audible reaction as Grasshopper fell to the side, but then quickly gathered himself and would not give in because of one good shot.

Unfortunately, Sakon had in him much more than just one good shot. He either just threw a punch or a kick or blocked a strike first to drive the point in. The aspect of retreat did not seem appealing to Grasshopper, which was unfortunate, because he had yet to land a blow on Sakon.

After one more strike, Grasshopper stumbled in front of Tingle and wiped blood from his lip. He shifted his weight to one leg, for the other surely must have been hurt. He also panted from pain and effort. Despite all this, his spirit still seemed to be willing.

"Haven't you had enough?" Sakon, still in his prime, asked.

"Never!" Grasshopper asked, "I won't just fall to some common thief!"

Sakon shook his head, "No, you won't. For I am no common thief… and I shall show you why!"

Faster than Grasshopper could see, Sakon leapt forward and struck out a lethal foot in which to deal a crushing blow.

"Noooooo, sir!"

From the corner of his eye, Grasshopper saw Tingle leap from behind and intercept the attack.

"Tingle!"

The short one fell to the ground which comical swirls in place of his eyes. Sakon soared backward from the attack, which gave Grasshopper some time. He darted over to Tingle.

"Let's try this again!" Sakon shouted in maniacal glee and leapt forward.

Grasshopper quickly took out the Multitask and played the Song of Soaring. Two wings picked him and Tingle up and out before Sakon reached their space. Once he realized they were gone, he scoffed to himself at their cowardice.

-

Grasshopper and Tingle appeared elsewhere in Ikana Canyon, backs propped up against the owl statue. Grasshopper prodded the green man to see if he was awake, but soon came to see that Tingle was still out of it. He then looked around to see if Butterfly was anywhere, and saw nothing. He wondered how he would find her until he remembered Epona's Song and how well the other animals reacted to it. He played the song to see if his dumb luck would pull him through and hit the jackpot. Butterfly's hooves were heard clopping toward them and soon the crimson horse looked upon them with a generic snort of self-introduction. Grasshopper mounted Tingle onto the back of Butterfly's saddle and the rode out of the canyon.

-

Cremia sighed and put her hands on her hips. In front of her in the doorway was a very injured-looking Grasshopper with hair and clothes disheveled and wounds and cuts holding a little green man who snored comically.

"I'm guessing you didn't just go out and ride for a bit, did you?"

"No, Ma'am." Grasshopper muttered.

Cremia sighed again and stood aside, "Well, come in and I can help you and… is that the weird little green man who draws in the air outside the exit to the ranch?"

"His name's Tingle." The young man said.

"Okay, now while I get some bandages, tell me what happened."

Grasshopper set Tingle down and sat in a chair while Cremia bandaged him up. He told her about everything that happened including the ride into town, the talk with Viscen, leading up to the one-sided fight with Sakon.

Cremia pinched the bridge of her nose, "I say 'you could have been killed' so many times it has lost all meaning." Grasshopper lowered his eyes for the imminent scolding, but then looked up when she said, "You needed more help."

"Excuse me?" Grasshopper asked.

"Well… I don't usually advocate getting involved in other people's business, but I've heard about this Sakon character and I don't like what I hear. He is a threat to all of Termina, I dare say. You have to take your licks, but once something intolerable appears, that's when you have to take action."

Grasshopper widened his eyes at this show of common sense. She wasn't as much of stiff as he thought! He began to start to think of it as a turn-on until she spoke again.

"Judging by what you said, the law can't help us right now… we'll need to perform our own… vigilante work."

"I must say… this is a side of you I never expected to see!" Grasshopper said in awe.

"Hey… I was no less of a tomboy when I was Romani's age… running a ranch with very little room for error has mellowed me is all."

"It's never too late to go back."

"I suppose." Cremia turned a chair around and sat in it with the back in front of her, resting her arms and chin upon that back, "So… have any plans, yet?"

-

The next day, due to an affordable day off, Grasshopper rode into town with a gleeful Romani at shotgun. However, all positive feeling left when they arrived to hear terrible news. As the mailman informed, Sakon had continued his stealing spree, but at an accelerated rate. Over half the houses in the town have been broken into and had items stolen. It was confirmed to have been Sakon because he was slowed down at the swords master's home. The swords master fought with Sakon to keep him from stealing, but lost. It was the first ever time the swords master's home had been successfully stolen from.

"He's making a mockery of those who uphold the law!" Viscen could be heard fuming to the lower-ranked guards.

"What's the latest?" Grasshopper cut in, stopping Viscen's fuming, to the relief of the other guards.

"Word is that Sakon could be anywhere in this town… listening for any 'bounty' he could hunt."

Romani looked around, then said loudly, "You mean like the stockpile of produce and animal products that the Romani Ranch has locked up?"

"Romani, what are you talking about?" Grasshopper looked to the girl.

"Do you think he heard me?" Romani asked, as if completely disregarding Grasshopper.

"Who?" Viscen asked out of bewilderment.

"Sakon!" The little girl said, "You said he was listening, right? If we lure him into an ambush, maybe we can get him!"

After a silence, Grasshopper said, "Romani... go play with the other kids."

Once Romani was out of earshot Viscen commented, "Precocious little thing, isn't she?"

"That's one way to put it." Grasshopper responded.

After another silence, Viscen eventually asked, "So, do you think he did?"

"Who did what?" Grasshopper asked back.

"Do you think Sakon heard Romani?" Viscen said out of some exasperation from needing to be so detailed, "If this is all true, you're going to need a game plan for how you'll ambush him."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Grasshopper waves his arms, "Let me clarify... There is a rumor floating about that Sakon could be anywhere, listening for a chance to hear about anything he could steal. Romani talks about all the stuff in the ranch as if Sakon were listening to us at that exact time. Am I up to date yet?"

"Yes." Viscen responded, taking it all in stride.

"Good... because if I were anybody but me, I wouldn't think that my luck was this rotten."

"... Yet you and perilous danger seem to be just made for each other. And you always seem to pass with flying colors."

"True..."

-

After carefully explaining what Romani had supposedly done, then backing away as Cremia scolded Romani on, first of all, waiting until a proper plan had been outlined, and, second, choosing a better fighting arena, Grasshopper revisited the large bottomless bag and looked at what else he could pull out. Of course, he had that hammer that he had used on the Dark One all that time ago. After sifting through, he found some kind of odd rectangular box that had a gray square hollowed out in it. He couldn't even begin to predict what it may be, but he felt he should utilize anything he could find.

Grasshopper picked out a good array of equipment, the least useful of which was the weird rectangle. On the topic of weird, Tingle was up and about as the teen went about the halls.

"Oh, Tingle. You're up! How do you feel!"

"Been better, Sir. What have you got there?"

"Oh, well, Sakon may or may not be coming our way, so I have to get ready. Maybe you could help out with some of that quill magic!"

"The Tingle Quill? Oh no, Sir. It is not for malevolent purposes. No, sir. Only ink."

"Oh, come on! Don't you want to stop Sakon?"

"Yes."

"Then really, if the magic of your quill is used to stop him, then doesn't that far outweigh the bad feeling you get when you hurt another? Think about it... the life of one bad, um, 'sir' versus the lives of a whole town of good people!"

"Well... maybe, Sir."

After a bit of judgmental staring, Grasshopper shook his head, "You know what? Do what you want. I have a supposed battle to get ready for."

Tingle hung his head as Grasshopper passed by. Once Grasshopper had left, Tingle lifted his head and noticed for the first time that Grasshopper had left behind the odd rectangular box, whether by accident or intention. The green man tilted his head and examined the box.

-

Later in the day at the Romani Ranch, the tension could certainly be felt. To relieve some of it, Grasshopper spent a bunch of time in the horse stable with Butterfly, and integral part of his ambush plan.

"Why do I love to incur the wrath of the powerful so, Girl?" Grasshopper asked the horse rhetorically. Butterfly gave him a "how should I know?" look and matching snort.

Light footfalls introduce Cremia. The older sister stalked forward and seemed to kill any good mood in the stable. Even Butterfly seemed to cast her eyes down.

Cremia's voice sighed from behind, "So I see you are ready for what's to come? That is... if it's even coming."

"Yeah." Grasshopper only said.

There was a silence that felt like hours. Eventually Cremia's voice, closer, said, "I know there's a chance he won't even come, but... oh, I just know he will. This has to be the worst danger you've ever put yourself in!"

"To be fair, Romani did it."

"Don't blame her! She told me you wanted to beat Sakon and you were very verbal about it! You know how impressionable she is!"

Grasshopper looked into his horse's eyes in a pleading manner, but then just said back, "I'm sorry."

Another silence. Every second an eternity wondering what Cremia was thinking. There was a sniff and Cremia's arms came around his neck from behind.

"Be careful." The crimson-haired girl whispered into his shoulder.

At such close contact, Grasshopper couldn't help but to get a sense of Cremia's scent. He felt bad when, for a second, he wished it smelled better, like Nesira's. He would have shaken his head violently, but Cremia was in contact with that immediate area. All he could do was endure Cremia's scared, frail embrace from behind both physically and emotionally.

-

When Cremia left, Grasshopper just couldn't stay in the stable with everything reminding him of her. The footprints she left in the hay, the streaming curtains that reminded him of her hair. Thus, he hopped on Butterfly and they rode the front field of the Romani Ranch. It was late night, maybe even early morning.

It was a tense ride. Every flash of movement could be Sakon prowling. Every snap of a twig, caused by the twice-as-live thief. The pressure knotted his insides repeatedly, never letting up. He thought that eventually, he'd have a ball of flesh and artery in his abdomen rather than all his vital organs.

His wristbands burned.

Butterfly gave a concerned whinny and stopped dead at the feel of the hot metal. She could even feel it when he held them away. He looked at them and they certainly emitted a hate-filled glow. Grasshopper slowly looked up with wide eyes and jerked Butterfly to turn her around.

There was Sakon.

A silence followed in which the thief sized up Grasshopper and Butterfly. He seemed to have bonded with the mask more, for he wore less of his own clothing and just looked more like a Gibdo that stood upright.

"I was just going to be in, out, and of with my life," Sakon said at long last, "but when I saw you out here, I couldn't help but to be... curious. That girl was luring me into an ambush of sorts... wasn't she?"

"Believe me, it wasn't my idea." Grasshopper responded, eyes narrowed.

"Oh, but it's what you wanted. That girl only wanted to give you just that."

"Leave her out of this."

Sakon sighed, "Honestly... how do you expect to defeat me? I am faster, stronger, more agile, more durable... just overall better in every way."

Another silence, then Grasshopper said, "It wouldn't be a fight if I wasn't at a horrid disadvantage."

"Hunh. Well spoken... you have spirit, I grant you that. However, it is not enough to will me to the ground. You just don't have what it really takes."

"Speed? My horse." Grasshopper cut in, patting Butterfly on the side, "Power? My weaponry." From the pack, he took out the large hammer with the silver head, "My ingenuity can help me with the rest."

Sakon laughed, then in the middle of it, took off in a run. Grasshopper had expected Sakon to at least finish his laugh before attacking. With what time he had after this realization, he gave a rough signal to run and Butterfly responded in kind. She dashed toward the blur of a thief. Sakon leapt to deliver a clothesline slam with his arm to Grasshopper. Grasshopper flung himself forward and flattened his stomach to Butterfly's back, avoiding the speeding arm. When Sakon landed, he whirled around and came again. He ran toward Butterfly's back and leapt onto the horse's back. No sooner had he done so when Grasshopper heaved the hammer into Sakon's face.

The thief sailed off the horse's back and rolled into some particularly tall grass. Grasshopper stopped and turned Butterfly to face where Sakon had landed. He knew something was up when Sakon stayed down there for a long time. He trotted the horse to the spot and looked down when Sakon jumped from the grass and made an attempt. Butterfly backed up, then trotted forward, under the parabolic path of Sakon's jump. Sakon landed and looked at Grasshopper in the moonlight. He then looked at his torso and felt it. The Gibdo wrapping was torn there and blood formed a thin line.

"Damn you..." Sakon muttered in an indignant fashion. Somehow, Grasshopper had cut him on his way up and he didn't notice. He didn't care for being duped at all.

Butterfly stood there and waited for Sakon to come again. As the thief ran toward the pair of foes, he was reminded of his first fight with Grasshopper and that time, how Grasshopper had been more of the aggressor, rushing in just to finish the fight. He then knew that Grasshopper was relying on Sakon to repeat his own mistake. When he reached the horse, he stopped in time to not get hit by Grasshopper's hammer, then leapt up and delivered a kick to Grasshopper's side, knocking him off Butterfly. Butterfly tried to run over to get Grasshopper back, but Sakon merely glared menacingly. The smart horse obeyed this glare and instead slowly walked backwards.

"Nice try," Sakon said as he approached Grasshopper, "but your little 'mind over matter' advantage has become my advantage! I am the greatest!"

He reached out to pick up Grasshopper when a "Noo, sir!" pierced the night and Tingle arrived to slap Sakon's hand away.

"Pest!" Sakon hissed and tried to kick Tingle. Tingle jumped out of the way several times and then took out his quill.

"Tingle...?" Grasshopper asked, inquiring if he was going to use it.

"You were right, Sir." Tingle merely said, then also protruded the rectangle from before. All watched as he poked the rectangle and shouted "Tingle, Tingle, koo-loo limpah!" and caused it to turn green and be more shaped like his own head.

"What, are you going to impale me with it?" Sakon laughed.

Tingle did not show a negative reaction. Rather, he grinned in his way. He then poked a newly formed button on the rectangle and shouted into it, "Tingle family, assemble!"

Within seconds, shouted of "Koo-loo limpah!" echoed throughout the field and it seemed that several Tingles, only distinguishable by their leotards which were identical in shape, but not in color. A circle of Tingles surrounded Sakon.

"This is ludicrous!" Sakon shouted, then ran at the nearest Tingle.

The Tingle floated above Sakon, completely dodging. Sakon swiped at the next Tingle, also missing. A swarm of Tingles danced about Sakon, but he didn't hit a single one.

Sakon fumed, "Stand still so I can hurt you!"

One Tingle, a red one, called "Koo-loo limpah!" and his hand was engulfed in a red glow that trailed like a fire. The red Tingle heaved his fist at Sakon and knocked the thief back, making him stumble. That opening was all the Tingle family needed to begin pummeling Sakon.

Grasshopper watched, jaw dropped, as the powerful thief was being torn apart in a practical sense. Then they ascended over the thief, revealing that he had been tied up. The Tingle family formed a circle and floated in the hair, joining hands.

"Koo-loo limpah!" They all shouted and a bolt of fire, which was really the only way to describe it, struck Sakon, generating an explosion.

Grasshopper shielded his eyes yet again, then looked and saw Sakon, back to his normal self, and the Gibdo mask lying next to him. The least likely person stepped in and took the Gibdo mask: Admiral Viscen.

"Admiral?" Grasshopper yelped, "What are you doing here?"

Viscen chuckled, "I knew he would come, that's just how fate likes to treat you. Per that, I decided to do some sneaking in myself. I'm sure you won't mind, as I'm saving you the trouble of dragging him over to Clock Town, aren't I?" He then said to Sakon, indicating the mask, "This will be your damning evidence!"

A certainly reluctant Sakon was dragged off, kicking, screaming, and cursing all the way to Clock Town.

-

Tingle bowed to his family, then waved to all of them as they started to disappear to wherever they were before they had been called to assemble.

"Bye-bye, Tingle family! Bye-bye!" Tingle called until the last of his family had gone.

"Tingle!" Grasshopper called, then ran over, "That was... incredible!"

Tingle nodded, "Yes, my family has many great powers! We just don't like to use them to hurt people is all... however, when one of us is in danger, we spare no quarter to the sir who does the endangering!"

Grasshopper laughed, "You saved the day!"

"No, Sir. You did when you convinced me that using my quill for the good of the people was better than being pacifist. Your words are powerful, Sir."

They shook hands as Cremia and Romani ran over.

"Grasshopper, I heard everything!" Cremia said, "Are you okay?"

Grasshopper looked himself over, "Maybe a little hurt on the side, but other than that, fine!"

"Good!" Cremia tried to sound huffy, but only broke down and flung her arms around his neck. She really didn't care how tightly she gripped and, as a result, how tightly she pressed her body to his, "You had me so worried..."

"Um..." Grasshopper blushed, "I'm okay now, aren't I?"

To join in on the celebration, Butterfly trotted over and nudged Grasshopper affectionately.

Romani wandered over to where Tingle was and looked at the communicator he had made with his magic, "You used your magic, after all! I knew you'd make the right choice!"

"Hmm? How did you know about that?" Tingle asked.

"Um... overheard..." Romani muttered, then changed the subject, "Do you need it any more?"

Tingle looked at the green rectangle with the spike sticking out, "Perhaps, perhaps not."

"How about letting Grasshopper have it so we can talk to you any time?"

"Splendid idea! What think you, Sir?" Tingle looked to Grasshopper.

Grasshopper grinned and said, "Give it here." He took the Tingle Communicator from Tingle and looked it over. It didn't seem that complicated.

-

Romani yawned deeply as soon as Grasshopper took the Tingle Communicator.

"Oh, What time is it?" Cremia wondered aloud, then looked to see the morning sun start to rise.

"You've got to be kidding me." Grasshopper moaned. That means he'd have to go straight to chores!

"Now, now." Cremia winked and waved a finger, "I'll give you an hour of sleep for beating Sakon. Then it's off to chores."

Grasshopper laughed sadly, "Thanks, Cremia..."

As they talked, Tingle walked away until Grasshopper looked up and saw Tingle's retreating silhouette.

"Tingle! See you around!"

Tingle looked as Grasshopper, Cremia, and Romani waved good-bye to the odd green man. A tear gleamed in Tingle's eye as he waved back, then took off at a running start. The balloon appeared from Tingle's back and lifted him up. The three still on the ground looked as Tingle's silhouette floated in front of sun as it rose. On the morning breeze, Tingle's words could still be heard:

"Tingle, Tingle, koo-loo limpah!"


	12. Liberated Terror

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 12: Liberated Terror**

Thankfully for him, Grasshopper hadn't experienced any misadventures after his draining battle with Sakon. Rather, fate was being kind to him. Of course, all good things had to come to an end. One morning Grasshopper groggily rose from his bed, pinching the bridge of his nose, when he realized for the first time that his "prophetic" dreams really had stopped since that one morning. Either that or he was remembering them terribly... but he would remember having had a weird dream at least. That final climax of a dream really must have been the "last" one in the "bunch."

On a completely different note, one that did not relate to any of the previously stated, there was a knock on the door later in the morning.

-

"I'll get it!" Romani called to the rest of the house as she made her way to the door. She reached up and pulled the handle, barely opening it comfortably. The little girl backed up and looked up to see their visitor, and it was none other than Nesira, the half-gerudo from the beach fortress, "Oh, you're Nesira!"

Nesira laughed and kneeling to Romani, "Quite a good memory you have, there. I didn't expect you to remember me! With a sharp mind like yours..."

She stopped when a hand fell on Romani's shoulder. Nesira stood upright to be level with Grasshopper, who just barely introduced himself. "I'll kindly ask you not to finish that sentence for the sake of keeping her goals in life pristine. Go and do your chores, Romani."

Nesira folded her arms and watched Romani go off to her chores, then looked to Grasshopper with the same grin, "So... you really do live here. I asked around in that town to see if anbody knew anything about you... turns out it's harder to find somebody in that town who rather doesn't know anything about you." She emphasized "doesn't" to show how amazed she was.

"I guess that's true." Grasshopper responded, shaking the back of his head, "Speaking of Clock Town, how are things there?"

A "You're going to say 'I told you so.'" sigh escaped Nesira's lips before she answered, "Things are going really... well. People tell me that I vaguely look like a gerudo, but other than that people just treat me like anybody else... with tolerance and kindness."

"Didn't I tell you?" Grasshopper said to fulfill that one sigh, "You really have to have more faith in the common person. I mean... are gerudos discriminated against where you're from?"

"Well... More or less it's the gerudos who do the discriminating... and that just gives us bad reputation."

"Oh... Nothing you can really do about that, then." Grasshopper looked away out of habit, then after a silence said, "Hey, you, uh, you kept your hair down."

"Oh." Nesira looked at her long green hair as it just flowed down past her shoulders uninterupted, "Yeah... It's better than that stupid ponytail I kept it in until our fight at the beach fortress popped out the braiding. I considered tying it up, but I looked at myself and I think this looks better."

"I suppose it does..."

Nesira looked past Grasshopper with some kind of concern, prompting him to turn around and see that Cremia had walked up behind him.

"So," Cremia muttered, "You're the gerudo that Romani loves to talk about so much."

"She's been... talking about me?" Nesira asked with an embarassed smile, then quickly converted her mouth to a perfect line, realizing Cremia didn't think it a good thing, "I know you probably don't think well of gerudo, but believe me, I'm better than that stupid 'amazon man-hater kick-your-ass-if-you-so-much-as-look-at-me stereotype."

"I'm sure you are." said the cross-armed ranch owner, "However, my problem is that there is work to be done and we really can't have time to chat today."

"I'll help out, then!" Nesira rose a hand, "One more pair of hands means the work will be done that much faster, right? I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to talk after that!"

Grasshopper made an audible sound, then turned to Nesira again, "Hey, why did you come here anyway? Besides exchanging pleasantries."

"I'll tell you later. Little Miss Bossy says we have chores to do!" Nesira slipped a finger in Grasshopper's collar and yanked him forward with an "ack!"

-

"So, what's first on the agenda, Farm Boy?" Nesira asked with a great grin.

"First of all... don't call me that." Grasshopper muttered, "And I'm serious. Don't. I will get violent if you every do again. Are we clear?"

The half-gerudo made a mock salute, "Yes sir, mister Grasshopper, sir!"

"Good. Now that we're understood, here's our first chore. Check all the chickens to see if they have eggs laid, then refill their feed bins."

Nesira bit her lip, "Wow... you do all that and then some just for the sake of a pair of girls?"

"Yeah... that and they house me, feed me, all that good stuff."

"Oh. That would do it. So, shall we?"

Nesira began doing as told, but sometimes looked over at Grasshopper with his back turned, then just said, "no," or "nothing" in reference to checking the chickens for eggs every so often, taking this opportunity to size him up. A guy like this really shouldn't be working on a ranch. He should be... some kind of guard... or, on the extreme, a soldier. Just like... Nesira blinked that drop of thought out of her eye and returned to the chickens.

-

"Next on the agenda is using the pitchforks to scoop up all this hay into the cow pens. There's a marker for how much is enough in the pens." Grasshopper grabbed a pair of pitchforks, tossing one to Nesira, who of course caught it expertly, twirled it around, then held it like a staff.

After a bit of scooping, Nesira got fed up with how Grasshopper cooped himself up into corners if it meant avoiding her.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that you still didn't trust me!" She called across the barn, which was partially because she needed to, "don't think I act stereotypical all the time! I admit, I can be a little... spicy at times, but I'm totally one of those who are really good deep down inside!"

Grasshopper looked up, "Um... what are you talking about? I'm just scooping my side while you scoop yours."

"... Oh." Nesira muttered, adding a bit of red to the tan on her face. She quickly thrust her head down to avoid eye contact, then had to blow a lock of green hair out of her face.

-

"It's so beautiful... and looks very strong!" Nesira gasped in awe, "Can... I touch it?"

"Well... I suppose you've earned the trust to do so." Grasshopper nodded, "Just... be gentle, okay?"

"It's not like I'm going to go rough on purpose, honestly! I know when to be gentle!"

"... Judging by the reaction, I'd say you're going gentle enough."

"I think it likes it!"

"Of course... She prefers the touch of women, me excluded of course."

"Oh... it's a she?"

"Never told you that? Well, yeah, it's a she."

"Does she have a name?"

"Of course. Her name is Butterfly."

Nesira patted the crimson horse and looked to Grasshopper, "How majestic. How does she ride?"

"Like a dream." Grasshopper cocked an uncharacteristically proud eyebrow.

He didn't really know why, but he just felt he could be more loose around Nesira. With Cremia, he had to behave himself, around Romani, he had to set a good example, with anybody else, he had to constantly make a good impression, if not for himself, than for the Ranch, as he worked there. With Nesira, however, she cared not for being proper or what was socially acceptable.

"You really seem to like this horse." Nesira brought him out of his thoughts.

"Oh yeah... we seemed to develop a deep rapport very quickly... but it just seems that I have a way of doing that for anything and anybody I come across."

"You have no idea..." Nesira muttered into Butterfly's flank.

"What was that?" The young man asked?

"Huh?" Nesira yelped, then made an uninteligent mouth noise until she decided to twist her words around, "I was just thinking about how for the stiff, goodie-goodie, too-nice-for-your-own-good superhero that you are, you're not so bad... and that past our superficial differences, I believe we have more in common than you think."

"Oh?" Grasshopper closed his eyes in a superior fashion, "Well, for a half-gerudo who's loud-mouthed... violent... enraged... excessively profane... nosy... bossy... and probably undressing me with the power of her mind with every free second..." He paused, imagining her wincing with every adjective, "you're not so bad, either." he quickly finished, as if he never started speaking, opening a feral eye in her direction.

"What...?" Nesira mumbled, finally getting the audio feed to her brain, "Y... you...! I was this close to being perhaps offended!"

"Don't be so stiff." Grasshopper mocked, "Hey, I can get the brush and show you how Butterfly likes to be groomed!"

Nesira breathed a frail sigh of relief when Grasshopper rounded the doorway into Butterfly's pen. She hazzarded a look at the beast's face, and was surprised to see the precocious horse staring right back at her.

"What?" She barked at the female horse, "Quit your judgemental stares!"

Butterfly snorted, which one could easily mistake for a snorting chuckle. Before Nesira could react further, Grasshopper returned.

"Right!" Grasshopper introduced himself as he brandished the brush. He began to explain how to properly groom Butterfly until the horse looked past both of them, prompting them to do the same, bringing the freshly entered Cremia into focus.

"Oh, that horse...!" Cremia huffed, then looked to Grasshopper, "I need your help with something... I'm sure you two social butteflies can stand to be apart for a second or two... no reference intended." She apologized to the horse, who snorted and gave a nod in her horse-like way.

"What am I to do?" Nesira bluntly interjected.

Cremia whirled around in what looked like impatience for a spit second, but retained formed when she finished her turn, "I just finished milking the cows... you can take some of it and churn butter."

"Yes, sir! I, um, mean, yes, ma'am!" Nesira made another mock-salute and rushed out the doorframe.

Grasshopper chuckled at the display, but immediately stopped and thinned his mouth to a perfect line when Cremia looked.

-

Nesira rose and fell in a rythmic bobbing pattern, occasionally having to brush her sweat-matted hair out of her face. The sweat also beaded her face, her bare arms, pretty much any place exposed to air, which in her case, was quite a bit. Eventually a lack of air began to grip her lungs and panted when rising, and gave grunts of effort when she dove in. The effort became so great that these grunts turned into yelps. Her muscles scream for her to stop, but her spirit was more willing than the flesh was weak. She knew it was better she kept going, and thus keep going she did. Her second wind did not last for a long time, as she felt that her efforts were about to reach their peak and she would be able to stop. She continued to rise and fall until finally, she felt that the fruits of her labor had been reached and that her services were no longer needed for the time being. With the cross between a a moan and a soft cry of relief, she relented.

Nesira fell forward onto the butter churn. Who could have known that something as simple as churning butter would be so hard? After what seemed like hours of just regaining her energy, Nesira finally stood up fully and sighed... how much more of this stuff would she have to churn?

"Something wrong?" Was the call from the door.

The half-gerudo fully bolted up and looked over, seeing Grasshopper holding the handles of what looked like several very heavy buckets of water.

"'Course not! It's... only butter, right?" Nesira lied, tell-tale gasps between every work.

"Thought I heard you having trouble... if you say so."

As he turned to leave, Nesira took note that perhaps some red existed on his face. Was he blushing? Maybe seeing her in that sweaty disposition gave him thoughts, or maybe... oh Din the sounds! He must have heard her from outside! She must have been souding like she was having an orgasm or something! She stopped on that thought... for it gave her an idea to further mess with his head, an idea that made her narrow her eyes in a coy fasion. She bitterly gripped the rusty butter churn of evil and pumped, but at a much slower pace, mainly out of a lack of wanting to go through so much work again. It still took effort, unfortunately. She thanked the goddesses when Grasshopper finally showed up again.

"Hey, do you need-" Grasshopper could manage before the question and anything else on his mind was wiped clear by the sight of Nesira at the butter churn.

To be more specific, Nesira had her body pressed up against the churn and gripped the handle to her plated chest. She gently pumped the handle in a much smoother motion, laxing her grip so that her fingers slid up or down the handle itself on every pass. Her eyes narrowed in a sleepy expression and her lips were formed in a way-too-peaceful parabolic shape.

"Oh, hello again." She cooed in a voice deeper than she was accustomed to using, "Doesn't seem you can stray very far, does it?" She then took effort to emit the sluttiest giggle she could muster.

To her satisfaction, Grasshopper looked like he had been hit with a large deku nut. He stood, paralyzed before her until Cremia had near-stomped in and firmly gripped his pointed ear, violently jerking him back out the doorway with a pained, "Gack!"

Nesira waited a bit after they had left, then giggled. Normally, this time.

-

It seemed like forever, but the chores had been done, and thanks to Nesira, earlier than usual. However, that still wasn't much, as the sun was setting as she packaged the final batch of butter.

"Whew!" Nesira yelped as she wiped the sweat off her brow, trying to find anybody to convey her feelings to, "What a work out!"

She sauntered out of the shed she had been cooped up in for all that time and closed the door with her foot. She then ran over to where Grasshopper was looking at the sunset on top of a hill.

"I've been overworked so hard so often I think this is the first time in a while that I've seen a sunset." Grasshopper complained, indicating he sensed the half-gerudo behind him.

"Really? How do you guys manage day-to-day work, then?"

"We manage. Barely... but we manage."

There was a bit of a silence, then Nesira said, "I don't know about you, but I can't just sit still for a long period of time. Let's walk."

"I'm fine." Grasshopper said.

Nesira narrowed her eyes, then grabbed Grasshopper by the ear, "I said, 'let's walk!'"

"Ow! Ow! Okay!" the brunette yelped as he got up, helped by the tug of the ear.

-

After a bit of walking in silence, during much of the time Nesira tried to walk too closely to Grasshopper, Grasshopper finally spoke up.

"So, Will you finally tell me what you came here for in the first place? And don't say talking to me because that's given."

Nesira rolled her eyes, "Well, I came on over because you interest me. I don't know what it is, but for whatever crazy reason, you're on my mind more than anything else. Maybe it's your all-too-nice nature, the culture shock I got when I saw your selflessness first-hand, your surprising tolerance..." Then she narrowed her eyes suggestively toward him and gave a feral grin, "Or maybe it's your cute face, your awesome body, and the shivers I get from imagining myself invoking animal lust on you."

Grasshopper's slid his eyes to her, but then quickly looked back in front of himself, "Um... I wasn't really being serious when I said that comment, earlier..." He barely stammered out.

"Orrrr..." Nesira said immediately in a teasing voice, knowing he wanted elaboration on the most recent things said, but then said the next thing softer, without her usual natural spice, "How you remind me so much of who I came to... um... around this area... of Termina... to find."

The young man put all embarassment aside, "Who would that be?"

Nesira stopped walked and looked down, a vulnerable look on her face for the first time, "Oh... you'd probably figure out in due time. Well, his name is Tobias. He was a soldier or something for some army... but that's the least about him I know. He was an orphan, found in a great raid. His parents probably died in the action. This lead to a small hatred of the common person because of how stupid they can be. He was raised by the leader of the before said army and came out as somewhat of an introvert. Enter me, the crazy, violent, outspoken gerudo girl. That master guy put us together to cure Tobias of his inabilities due to his shyness. I'll admit, his quiet ways really grew on me. Eventually we fell in love... and boy when he fell in love, he fell in love hard. He always had to take time off from his army duties to come see me, or when he couldn't, was very unhappy."

"Then... the 'hero' came. I don't really know much about the 'hero' besides word was spreading that he was on a crusade to free the world from the ultimate anarchy... or something like that. I was safely in the desert fortress when he came, so I really had no reason to care. However, Tobias had every reason to care. His master's army fighting this 'hero' was an eventuality. Tobias's master let him off one night to go see me... however, that was the very same night the 'hero' arrived at where Tobias's army was. I don't know how he did it, but the hero utterly destroyed the army. After that... I never saw Tobias again. I thought maybe he ran away out of grief, but the prevalent theory was that, as punishment for not being there when the 'hero' attacked, he was sent to Termina... I mean, this area of Termina. When I heard this, I packed up my things and headed right for this area of Termina in search of Tobias... I've just never found him yet."

There was a moment of silence in which Grasshopper digested the whole story, wondering why it felt so familiar. He decided it probably wasn't that cataclysmically important and put a hand on Nesira's shoulder, as she was faced away, "I'm sure you'll find him as long as the bond between you two remains strong."

Nesira whirled around, her emerald eyes now filled with tears, "That's the thing! All I could think about was him... but after meeting you, you are all I can think about! I don't know why! I mean, no offense, but I don't want to think about you all the time! Maybe sometimes, but I'm starting to lose focus of why I came here!"

Grasshopper leaned back because Nesira had leaned forward, "Um... is this some weird way of telling me that you're going to kill me?"

"No!" Nesira yelped, a little out of exasperation, a little out of frustration, "You always seemed to know what you're doing... I thought maybe you'd know what to do for my case..."

"Oh. Well I, uh, don't really know anything else you could do besides keep looking... I don't have all the answers all the time, I'm afraid."

"Yeah... I guess." Nesira sighed out of emotion and looked aside, holding herself like one does when they feel a chill.

Grasshopper fidgeted, never having seen the normally overly jovial Nesira like this, "If you need to get it all out... then you really should. Keeping it all hidden like you have is no way to go about it."

"I know!" Nesira yelped again, blinking rapidly because of the tears, "I just don't now what to do!"

Her sentence climaxed at the word "do" and at the same time she flung herself at the young man in front of her. Grasshopper staggered back from the sudden impact, directly into a wall made by a grassy landmass. He awkwarly moved his hands to give her a reassuring hug, only to realize that her breastplate was only a front, tied to her by threads that covered her back, so his hands jumped when he felt her bare back. She must have taken this as some kind of sign, because at that moment she clinged to him tighter, closing the gap between their torsos. This was no longer a pity hug.

Nesira took a sharp intake of breath. Grasshopper thought that it was some kind of sob, and moved to acknowledge, but then felt himself get pinned to the wall of grass.

"Don't do anything," Nesira hissed, "And don't even ask me why or take me any less seriously or I will kill you!"

Grasshopper broke a nervous sweat. Was she that amorous? Grasshopper hadn't time to think as a shadow appeared in the fading sunlight. Oh boy... if Cremia saw them like this... Another thought interruption occurred when he heard a too-familiar sound... one that had haunted him for a while until he got over it, but opened the wound anew.

It was confirmed when a rotting foot landed into sight, then another, then finally, the whole body emerged.

It was a ReDead.

-

Nesira gripped Grasshopper too tightly, this time out of terror. He couldn't blame her. She was brave, yes, but only a truly stupid person did not fear a ReDead when they had no means of of defending themselves.

After a long time of waiting, the ReDead disappeared from sight, and the groaning faded significantly.

"It's gone." Grasshopper said quietly. Nesira shoved off him violently.

"What in the name of the sacred realm was that?" Nesira barked silently, but sharply.

"It certainly was a ReDead." Grasshopper muttered darkly... briefly wondering what the sacred realm is.

Nesira emitted many frustrated mouth noises before responding, "I know that! I meant, what is the damned thing doing here?"

"D- I don't know!" Grasshopper blurted back with mirroring confusion, "I sealed that hole!"

The green-haired girl stopped, then looked back, asking with less sharpness in her voice, "What hole?"

"There... there was a hole! In the racetrack! There were ReDeads in it, but I made it so they were trapped in there!"

"Y-y-you blithering dumbass! You kept something this huge from that Cremia girl?"

Grasshopper gasped deeply and wore a face of paled terror, "Cremia! Where is she?"

"How the hell should I know?" Nesira shouted back.

"Standing here yelling at each other won't help!" Grasshopper responded just as loudly.

"Right!" Nesira already started on a run, "I can empty my bank of four-lettered words on you later!"

Grasshopper groaned at that comment, but quickly recalled Cremia and Romani and broke into a faster run.

-

"Farore... bless it." Nesira muttered when she looked over the ranch-owned land, trying not to use a goddess's name in vain whenever she could help it.

The Ranch hadn't exactly been overrun, but there were still many ReDeads roaming the fields. Their source was certainly coming from the dog track. Their shadows were more ominous now that the day had shifted into an evening twilight.

"The lights!" Grasshopper yelped, indicating the residence house, "They're on! At least one of them are in there!"

"That leaves one left we don't know about." Nesira said, just to get the facts out.

Grasshopper scanned the field, then looked to Nesira, "We'll go into the house. I have supplies in there, I don't now what, but something in my hidden inventory may help out!"

"You go! You can secure the house while I look for the remaining sister!"

"What?"

"I'm half gerudo! I could kill a dodongo with a rupee if I wanted to! I'll be fine!"

Grasshopper sniffed with a non-specific contempt, then nodded, "Okay."

After splitting up, Grasshopper beat a path to the house, running full tilt, ignoring every ReDead. A long run later, he came to the front door, twisted the knob, and threw the door open all in one swift motion. At that time, he noticed that the door wasn't locked. A ReDead was walking across the room, but did not see Grasshopper. Grasshopper silently sneaked around the table and made his way up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, it seemed there were no other ReDeads, but only one closed door. As Grasshopper approached the door, it seemed that everything else was in a black void, and that only the door was visible. He twisted the knob, noting that this door wasn't locked either.

Grasshopper opened the door, then immediately had to catch an arrow aiming expertly at his head. A moment later, a startled gasp came from in front of him. Romani, tears of terror in her eyes and a bow in her hand, stood still at what she had almost done. She darted forward and ran into his arms after he kneeled down to recieve her. he noticed that she kept her dress bunched on the side. A nervous habit, perhaps.

"What's going on, Grasshopper?" Romani whispered in a quivering voice, "Why is this happening to us?"

Tears swelled in Grasshopper's eyes, as well. This was all his fault, "I'm going to make things right... that's what I can tell you. I'm going to make them right."

Romani sniffed, "I know you will. You're Grasshopper. That's what you do."

Grasshopper looked around and noticed that they were in his room. She must have thought he'd be there. he grabbed the bottomless bag and all other equipment and led Romani out of the room, hands on her shoulders. They immediately looked to the stairs, and were dismayed to see ReDeads climbing the stairs, if not literally.

"The window." Grasshopper said quickly, then directed Romani to a window. It was a circular window with its hinges through the middle, so it swung vertically with its axis of rotation in the center. Grasshopper exited first, then Romani came second, jumping into his arms for a safe landing.

-

Butterfly's shed was heavily guarded. Well, not as heavily guarded as much as more ReDeads were around it than any other place. Thus, somebody had to be in there. Nesira approached, then saw shadows behind her. The ReDeads saw her coming, so they had surrounded her. She looked around, backing up into the middle of the circle of ReDeads, when a rake shot up and tried hitting her in the face. She expertly caught it before it touched her. She grinned at her fortune. She made a mental note to give a kiss to whatever forgetful individual left a rake lying in the middle of the field.

"Eat farm utility, you bastards!" Nesira shouted before charging at the ReDead directly in front of her. She gored the rake into the chest of the creature, then swung the rake toward another, causing the first to fly off and smash into the second one.

Two ReDeads limped their way forward, only to both get smashed in the head with the rake in one swift strike, both being decapitated by the motion. A third ReDead was closer than the others, so Nesira drove the rake into it, then used the leverage to swing past and land her foot through the head of another foe. She then violently jerked the rake out of the said ReDead, ripping the creature in half. A bunch of violent stabs and slices later, a majority of the ReDeads were rendered too damaged to move.

"Perhaps setting one of those jerks on fire would shut them up..." Nesira muttered as she ran into barn, "You!" She said a moment after.

The "you" referred to Cremia who was sitting on a bale of hay, stroking Butterfly's nozzle. She looked up and saw Nesira with a start, as if she were the last person she'd want to see at the moment.

"What's going on out there?" Cremia demanded with a waver in her voice, "I'm hearing so many things!"

"ReDeads. Tons of them." Nesira muttered as she got to work finding every tool capable of being used as a weapon and found a way to put it on her being. A tiller through the belt buckle, a hammer ("A hammer? Whatever") intertwined through the threads on her back, an axe on the other half of her back, and a sickle in her hand, for the rake from before was beyond useable.

"H-how is that possible?" Cremia continued to ask.

"Don't know." Nesira said immediately, using her authentic lying skills to their fullest extend, "Thing I know now is that I'm getting you out of here."

"Ohh no." Cremia responded, folding her arms, "I do not need your help."

Nesira groaned, then turned to face Cremia, "I get it. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Well guess what, I'm a woman, too. And I'm pretty sure that you are more afraid than me than I am of you, and I know that you snuck out here to pout about your jealousies regarding how much attention I've been getting from Grasshopper. Well, I don't know who he likes. He could like you, he could like me. We don't know anything about that right now, so let's put all possible hostility aside and avoid dying because of you being some idiotic spiteful bitch, okay?"

Cremia showed no sign of retreat, but eventually muttered, "Oh... o-okay, yeah."

Nesira breathed out after having said so much, then looked out a window, "Dammit, they're all around us... even the ones I cut up getting here. All right, We're riding out of here on Grasshopper's horse. You'll have to hold on to me."

"... Hold on to you?" Cremia asked.

"I know it's going to be awkward, but it has to be done." She then snapped her fingers, "I know! Here."

With a swift motion, Nesira took hold of Cremia's dress, then ripped it clean off. Thankfully, Cremia still had a tank-top undershirt on, but only undergarments besides that.

"What are you doing?" Cremia screeched, face entirely red.

"This way, you have something else to be embarassed about rather than you gripping me for dear life and we won't have any of those ReDeads grabbing your loose clothes and dragging us down... oh, woah!"

"What?" Cremia yelped, looking behind her for the source of Nesira's exclamation.

"You really hide a lot when you wear that big, poofy dress!" Nesira smiled, pointing at Cremia's chest, "For how long and why have you been hiding those from Grasshopper?"

"Nesira!" Cremia cried in an exasperated tone, turning more red at the compliments.

Nesira snickered, "Oh, fine. Girl talk later," She mounted Butterfly, who did not seem to care one bit, "Now, grab on to me."

"What?" Cremia cried for the umpteenth time, blushing for the umpeenth time as well.

"Oh, pardon." Nesira snickered again, "Get on the horse. Put your arms around my waist, and hold on. Watch out for the tools on my back."

"Oh."

Moments later, the door to the barn burst down and Butterfly with Nesira and Cremia on her back, ran out at top speed. She bowled down any ReDeads in their way, and quickly made her way to the back of the house. Cremia's blush intensified, as she had to hold on to Nesira's waist and had to press herself to Nesira's bare back. Eventually, Butterfly made it to their destination, where Nesira laid Cremia down. She knelt down to Cremia.

"You okay?" Nesira asked, looking Cremia over for any bruises in case she would lie about being fine. She had none.

"I'm okay... really." Cremia muttered, still a blush on her face, "Would you... not be so close?"

"Oh, what?" Nesira rolled her eyes, "You think I'm going to suddenly going to force myself upon you and start kissing you?" Then she got a thought, "Hey... did you leave a rake lying in the middle of the field?"

"Huh?" Cremia grunted from just not being in reality, then remembered, "Oh, yeah! I dropped it when I saw Grasshopper wasn't walking anywhere... watching you churn butter."

"Oh." Nesira muttered, "Or course. Umm, listen. I'm going to look for Grasshopper," She handed the sickle to Cremia, "If any ReDeads come by before we get back, then let them have it."

There was a sound from around the corner of the house.

"Stay here." Nesira instructed.

"Where else would I go?" Cremia folded her arms.

Nesira crept to the corner, then lept across and held the sickle out.

-

Nesira had a sword to her throat. Grasshopper had a sickle to his. After a brief intense moment, they let their weapons down.

"I found Romani!" Grasshopper reported.

"I found Cremia." Nesira said. They all gathered to the back of the house where the sisters had a reunion. Now Nesira saw how, even while embracing her sister, Romani carefully kept her dress buunched on a side. While the two sisters comforted each other, Grasshopper and Nesira etched out a game plan.

"Well?" Grasshopper asked, looking to see that both sisters were okay, taking his sweet time scanning the scantily clad Cremia, then to Nesira.

"Obviously, we have to go into that hole and shut down whatever makes these things." Nesira hit her fist in her palm.

"Right. Here." Grasshopper held Nesira's scimitar out to her, "It was in my room. Were you planning to spend the night? In my room? In my bed?"

"To say no would be a lie." Nesira only said.

"Excuse me!" Cremia cut in, still blushing very much from the lack of clothing, "What are you talking about?"

"We're going to stop these things." Grasshopper said, "They appear to be coming from the dog track."

He silently prayed that she would not draw the connection to the hole under the dog shed, so he inwardly sighed when Cremia responded, "Okay."

"Look!" Romani called. She indicated the exit, where some ReDeads were leaving.

"If they get out..." Nesira muttered, shuddering at the thought.

Grasshopper bit his lip, then sifted around in his bag and protruded an item when he felt it, "I've got it!"

The object he had was a rectangular box that was green and had a pointy "spike" on the top. He pressed a button on it and looked to the sky. Soon after...

"Tingle, Tingle, koo-loo limpah!"

Tingle appeared before them all.

"Ahh, it's hideous!" Nesira yelped.

"What's hideous?" Tingle asked, then looked behind himself, "Yeek! ReDeads, sir! Hideous, indeed!"

Grasshopper looked to Nesira, "He is Tingle, and he happens to be a very good friend." Then to Tingle, "Tingle! We can't let those ReDeads get anywhere! Can you stop them?"

"On it, sir!" Tingle saluted, then took to the air in a red balloon. "Tingle bomber!"

Tingle protruded bombs from... no fathomable pockets and tossed them at the ReDeads, causing them to kneel down and vanish.

"I take back what I said!" Nesira said, impressed.

"We're going. Stay here." Grasshopper ordered Cremia and Romani.

"Don't need to be told twice..." Cremia muttered.

"Get them, Grasshopper!" Romani cheered, "You're the best!"

Grasshopper lowered his head in shame when they couldn't see. Butterfly snorted a farewell as the other two left.

-

Grasshopper and Nesira worked their way to the hole under the dog shed, where undoubtedly ReDeads were appearing from. They hacked and slashed their way into the hole, at which point things seemed to be much calmer.

"That wasn't there, before." Grasshopper muttered.

"What?" Nesira asked.

"That mirror."

They looked and indeed, a mirror seemed to be built right into the ground.

"Do you think it has any importance?" Grasshopper wondered.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Let's keep going." Nesira looked ahead.

They emerged into the large hall that Grasshopper was all too familiar with, with the pedestal, the four exits, and the stairs leading to the upper one. When they reached the center, every possible exit became barred off.

"What's going on?" Nesira shouted to the bars.

"They are!" Grasshopper unsheathed his sword and the two of them beheld the sight of a ReDead and a Gibdo, ready to attack, "A ReDead... and a Gibdo. This is just a day for my past coming back to bite me in the ass, isn't it?"

"Less yakking, more hacking!" Nesira called out and charged at the ReDead, Grasshopper behind.

Nesira slashed forward with her scimitar, but to her surprise, the ReDead leapt out of the way with expert grace! As she tried to digest what just happened, the Gibdo attempted to attack from behind. An effort stopped by Grasshopper. He hacked at the Gibdo's back and broke some cloth, which slowly repaired itself. The Gibdo turned around to get to Grasshopper.

Meanwhile, the ReDead began to swipe forward to get at Nesira. Nesira back up, dodging or blocking hit until she decided this was going nowhere and leapt clear over the ReDead to end up back-to-back with Grasshopper. The two of them nodded to each other and they linked arms. Nesira leapt against Grasshopper's back and kicked the ReDead hard, then Grasshopper spun, having Nesira's outstretched legs give the Gibdo a taste. The Gibdo backed up and then did something different... it shot its cloths forward. Grasshopper shoved Nesira out of the way in time to get the cloths right around his wrists. The other ends to the cloths were tied to ornamental bars on the wall.

Nesira looked to Grasshopper, then moved to help him, but the ReDead caught her off-guard. Worse more, it captured Nesira's gaze and screeched. Nesira froze, a look of terror on her face. She looked pale, even with tanned skin like hers. She stood petrified, unable to move as the ReDead leapt over and wrapped it's arms around her neck and its legs around her waist. The weight of the ReDead caused Nesira to fall backwards, on top of the ReDead.

"No! Nooo! Stop!" Nesira protested at the top of her lungs.

"Nesira! Nesira!" Grasshopper shouted, struggling against the Gibdo cloth keeping him to the wall.

Speaking of the Gibdo, now it approached where Nesira lie. It leapt on top of Nesira and assumed the same position, arms around her neck and legs around her waist as now both began to drain Nesira's energy is whatever way they do. Grasshopper pulled against the cloth with all his might, but to aboslutely no avail. He did not want to be only some feet away when Nesira dies.

"You can't... I... have to..." Nesira's eyes lowered as all strength to keep them up was rapidly leaving her. She finally stopped struggling and looked up to the cieling, tears pouring like never before seen and she muttered, "Tob... T-To..." But then she looked over to Grasshopper, "Grass... hopper..."

Grasshopper's eyes filled with just as many tears. It couldn't end this way. It can't. He took several deep breaths, then began his struggle against his bondage anew, giving out the greatest scream he had ever mustered, and even though his lungs and throat begged him to stop, he continued to scream, and it stayed the same pitch throughout. The armbands around his wrists burned so much that even he felt it. He did not care. Their glow was light, but slowly got more and more brilliant. The cloths strained for the first time and did not stop. They continued to stretch, more and more, until finally a tendon broke. Then another, then another in less time, until both cloths were ripped off the wall and withered off and Grasshopper finally stopped screaming.

The ReDead and the Gibdo looked and left the motionless body of Nesira. They approached the newly freed Grasshopper. Grasshopper's armbands now glowed with foreign symbols in red while the rest glowed gold. The ReDead and Gibdo approached regardless.

Grasshopper placed the tip of his sword on the ground to his left, moving his dominant right arm across his body. He then swiped in a diagonal upward right motion, kicking up a firey wind. The wind engulfed both undead creatures, reduced them both to dust, then dissolved the dust until no trace remained.

Once they were gone, like a torch during a storm, the glow of Grasshopper's armbands vanished, and so did any trace of the foreign symbols. He dropped his sword, the clatter of such seemed miles away. His entire body trembled with the expenditure of energy gripping his nervous system. He felt for his heart with a trembling hand and felt nothing. His legs finally gave away and he landed with his back against the wall. With his other hand, he reached for Nesira. He needed to get to her, to see if she was still alive. However, his arm shortly fell due to no energy to lift it. Eventually darkness overcame him.

Immediately, the bars blocking the exits fell and four mirrors revealed themselves. One in the hands of the statue in the red room, one in the hands of the statue in the blue room, and one in the hands of the statue in the green room, and one in the ceiling of the large room with the pedestal.

-

In an expansive temple, two men pray before three statues. One man, thirty years of age, has very dark skin, but is not Gerudo. He is bald, has a very large build, and an intimidating face with purple eyes to go with it. The other man is the complete inverse. At eighteen years of age, he is light of skin, has long, flowing blonde hair that covers one of his blue eyes, and a slender build, but not without its muscles. Both are wearing robes that are green with red sleeves and blue collars. They pray until a sound shakes them from their prayers. They behold two of the statues glowing. One green, one red. Both statues sent out beams of light respective in color to the statue that had sent out the beam.

"What... what is going on?" The younger man asks.

"I... do not know." The older man simply replies.

-

Two beams of light, green and red, fall into the hole, piercing the night sky. They reflect off of the mirror in the landing of the hole, then off of the mirror in the large room with the pedestal, then the red light reflects off of the mirror that the statue holds in the red room while the green light reflects off of the mirror that the statue holds in the green room. They both return to the mirror in the pedestal room, then travel downward, into the newly lifeless bodies that inhabit the room. The green light entered Grasshopper's chest as the red light entered Nesira's chest. Eventually, both lights died out.

Then, they awoke.

Both of their eyes popped open and they both took in their first breaths like one does after being under water for longer than they can handle.

Grasshopper still cannot move, but Nesira stands up wearily. Once she realizes who she is, where she is, and what she has been doing, she gasps, then sees Grasshopper on the ground. She wastes no time in running over, throwing herself upon him, wrapping her arms around his waist and crying into his chest.

Both incapable of intelligent speech, it was the only real way to communicate anything.

-

They both slept for a time span of ten minutes. When they awoke, they saw the position they were in and jumped up, both blushing furiously. Grasshopper took note of the large wet spot in his tunic.

"Did... that really happen?" Nesira asked, more serious and solemn than she ever had been before.

Grasshopper exhaled, then asked, "Which part?"

"...All of it..." She breathed.

There was a sound. There was a crowd of ReDeads that had passed them by, assuming them dead. Unfortunately, now that they were alive, they attracted the attention of the said ReDeads.

"Well, hell. Can we ever catch a break?" Classic Nesira groaned.

All the ReDeads suddenly whirled around as they were suddenly bowled over. Standing triumphant where they were was Cremia with the hammer. She still wore the tank top undershirt, but had put on a new skirt.

"You were so excited about getting your blade back that you left all the farm tools behind." Cremia told Nesira, "Tingle gave my cover on my way here... And don't scold me! It's about time I put my life on the line for you all!"

"You know what?" Nesira looked to Grasshopper, "She isn't so bad, either."

-

Grasshopper knew the caves, so he had a feeling the ReDeads would be coming from the room with the treasure chests. As they entered the topmost exit from the main room, he looked back and noticed two of the pendants from the pedestal were missing.

Once inside the room before the treasure room, they saw that the door to the treasure room was wide open, and furthermore, that the switch keeping the door down was no longer being pressed down by a statue-esque Grasshopper doppleganger.

"I don't get it!" Grasshopper said aside to Nesira, "I played the Elegy of Emptiness right over there."

"Did you ever play it again?" Nesira asked.

Grasshopper remembered when he used it to stop the conveyor belt to help Tingle get the quill back, "Yeah."

"You know what? I could just kick you in the pants right now. Whenever you play the Elegy of Emptiness, any previous statues you make will disappear."

"Oh. Hey, there's the parchment I learned the song from."

Grasshopper looked at the parchment and noticed it no longer contained the Elegy of Emptiness, but a new song. He read:

"When times look their darkest, a song to break a beam of sun through the darkness... The Sun's Song."

He then memorized the song: Right, down, up; right, down, up.

"What is this?" Cremia gasped, pulling Grasshopper back into the real world. Both he and Nesira followed her into the treasure room... only there was no treasure in it.

There was, however, a pitch-black portal and a figure before it, apparently manipulating it.

Grasshopper stepped forward, "Are you the one bringing the ReDeads into this world?"

The figure slowly turned around. It looked like a human man dresses like a wizard, but most of the flesh had rotten and turned blue, the hair was immensely white and wild, his eyes were white adn only white, and it appeared to have no left cheek, exposing the left half of its teeth. It said nothing, nor looked like it was capable of such.

"Not much for talk?" Grasshopper half-snarled.

"Neither are we." Nesira said.

The undead wizard rose a hand and three ReDeads appeared in front of him. Grasshopper swiped forward with his sword, Nesira with her scimitar, and Cremia with her scythe. Surprisingly, all three dropped without a fight.

"That can't be all." Cremia muttered.

As if on cue, the undead wizard now summoned five ReDeads.

"You get a gold star." Nesira muttered sarcastically to Cremia.

"I'll take down the one making them all!" Grasshopper announced, then leapt at the undead wizard. The wizard rose his other hand, repelling Grasshopper in mid-air.

"Damn!" Grasshopper cursed as he got up, "If we don't find a way to take him by surprise, he'll summon enough of those things to put us out of business!"

The ReDeads themselves were easy enough to dispatch, it was their sheer numbers that was intimidating.

"Things are really looking their darkest!" Nesira called out grimly.

"Darkest?" Grasshopper repeated, remembering The Sun's Song. He pulled out the multitask and began to position his arms to play it, but a ReDead got too close for comfort and he had to dodge away. In fact, he had to keep doing this, and had no time to play, "There must be-!"

Grasshopper was cut off by a whizzing sound followed by a dulled thud. All living heads turned to the undead wizard, who howled in pain. All ReDeads began howling as well. All living heads then turned to the entrance, where Romani stood with her bow, her other hand keeping her dress bunched at her side.

"Tingle helped Romani." The girl said.

"And you helped me!" Grasshopper said, then quickly assumed position to play The Sun's Song, and did so.

"How will the sun reach here?" Cremia asked.

Outside, a beam of sunlight contradicted the night sky as it struck into the hole. It reflected off the first mirror, off the mirror in the large room, off all three mirrors in the red, blue, and green rooms to intensify, then there revealed to be mirrors all throughout the former treasure room. The light reflected off of each mirror, and each separate beam of light converged onto the undead wizard, causing it to shriek in pain.

Author's Note: Gun del Sol 1, Gun del Sol 2, Gun del Sol 3 battle chips in, triple download! PileDriver program advance! Taiyooooooh! ... Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Once the light faded, the wizard was gone. The ReDeads were gone. The pitch-black portal was gone. There was a very long silence in which all four remaining people looked at one another in disbelief that what they saw just happened.

-

It was a solemn walk back to the house. Tingle confirmed that all ReDeads were no more, then left. As they walked back, Cremia was first to talk.

"Well, Grasshopper... you've done it again."

"Yes!" Romani chirped, "You are the best!"

"You're too kind." Grasshopper muttered in a near-monotone.

"This is the best you've ever done! You should get your own holiday!" Cremia insisted, then after a pause, "Although... weren't you in that hole before? Didn't you see any ReDeads down there."

Well, it was time to face the music. "I-"

"He didn't. He told me." Nesira quickly said, "He probably just can't stand not knowing everything, so he'll be a hotshot and say he knew anything... but he really didn't."

"Nesira!" Grasshopper said firmly, then to Cremia, "While down there... I went into that room where we had that final battle. It was full of treasure chests and ReDeads. The treasure chests... had rupees in them. I thought it would have been too dangerous. The money may have been too tempting."

"Wait." Cremia said calmly, "You are telling me... that we were living on top of a group of ReDeads... and you knew... and you didn't tell me?"

"I thought I had the place sealed!"

"You still should have told me! I... I... I don't know what to say! All the lives you could have endangered... the hell you put us all through, the wreckage you caused the ranch, just because you wanted to keep some secret from me!"

Grasshopper bowed his head, "How do you know we could have done something?"

"At least something would have been done!" Cremia continued, absolutely irate, "We could have been prepared in some fathomable way! This is the most ignorant thing anybody has done! We... we take you in when you had nothing, and this is how you repay us? By keeping secrets that will kill us all some day?"

"I didn't mean to-"

"I'm sure you didn't!" She said harshly and dripping with sarcasm.

"Cremia, stop!" Romani shouted, then tugged at her sister's skirt.

Cremia sighed, looked to Romani, then gasped, "Romani... your hands!"

Romani gasped and bunched her dress up again.

"Romani, lift up the part of the dress you are hiding."

Romani trembled, then lifted her dress... a gash on her side leaked blood down her leg and had been doing so on her dress, and her hands had blood on them from trying to hide it.

"Did one of the ReDeads get to you?"

Romani did not move her head.

"Answer me!"

Romani sniffed, then slowly nodded her head. Cremia gasped, so did Nesira. Grasshopper stared ahead blankly, a look of absolute pale terror on his face: His error had hurt Romani.

Cremia whirled around to Grasshopper, her eyes full of tears, "Look at what you did!"

Grasshopper's breath came up short every time. He could only stare and think.

"Come on." Cremia said hurriedly, "We're going to Clock Town right now and getting you fixed up. Our first aid kit can't handle this.

The sisters trudged into a carriage and were off.

"You're not going to stay mad at Grassshopper, are you?" Romani asked in a quivering voice.

Cremia was silent for a long time. Her hair overshadowed her eyes, so Romani could not tell her expression. Finally, Cremia softly said in a broken voice, "I can't make any promises."

Grasshopper watched them go, then fell on his knees, then on his hands, staring at the ground, watching his tears soil the fair grass beneath him.

-

Nesira guided Grasshopper into the house and into his room, softly trying to comfort him. Nesira experiencing changes in character was a recurring theme lately, and thus did it happen again. She was very sympathetic toward Grasshopper and was very gentle with him, finding every possible combination of words that could get to him. However, he still wouldn't stop crying.

"Here... we're in your room, now." Nesira said softly, "Let's sit on the bed, okay?

She gently nudged him down and he sat. She sat next to him and kept her hands on his shoulders, eventually beginning to rub his back comfortingly. She bit her lip and tears came to her eyes, not about what had happened, but that he took it so hard. He must really be dedicated to those girls to be taking it so hard.

"Grasshopper..." She cooed, "Please... stop crying so we can talk this out. Once we have it all out in the open, you can cry all your stress out."

It seemed like forever of Nesira just rubbing his back, but his sobs began to subside, then from behind his fingers that he covered his face with came a croak, "What did Cremia and Romani ever do to deserve me?"

Nesira gasped, "Don't say that! You made an honest mistake that anybody else could have made! I think Cremia is overreacting to the entire thing!"

Grasshopper sighed, "I hurt Romani."

The half gerudo thought for a second, then looked to the young man, "Listen to me! You never intended for it to happen. Listen- listen to me! You didn't so this on purpose, and you never would. Listen to me!"

Nesira forced Grasshopper's hands down, then placed a hand on his far cheek, steering his face to hers. His eyes were empty. The childish flare that his eyes warmed her soul with had turned into a bleak, hazel murkland of despair, and the coldness projected into her, making her shiver. She couldn't give up, however! He was stronger than this, she knew it.

"Listen to me. You are a good person... much more so than any other person I have ever known."

Grasshopper inhaled and exhaled a few times, "What about Tobias?"

"Even more than Tobias! And that's really, really hard for me to say... so you know that means a lot!"

"Well... I'm not. I can feel it. Inside me this entire time... something wicked... something evil and malicious. I thought I had it suppressed all this time but no... it had me playing its game the entire time... and so subtle a way to act, too! An act of evil that wasn't an act at all, rather a lack thereof. I thought I had a new identity... but now I just don't know who I am, anymore!"

"Everybody has that inside of them! Nayru knows I had tons of it! It can't lose all the time! You can't keep your dark side down forever! The only thing under your control is how to deal with it and recover when it comes out. If anybody can deal with their inner darkness... it's you. You are Grasshopper. That's all you need to know, and nothing else."

Grasshopper stared back into Nesira's pure emerald eyes and saw her sincerity, the faith contained in every crevace, the confidence swimming through every vein.

"You... you really think so?" Grasshopper muttered softly.

Nesira sniffed merrily, "I know so!" She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on to him very tightly. Her hair still smelled a little bit like the beach... and some other kind of sand, "And look, you believe in giving second chances, right? Well, if Cremia is pure of heart, which we both know she is, she will give you a second chance that will not be in vain!"

Grasshopper's lips curved upward for the first time, "You really think so?"

Nesira pulled back and stroked his cheek, "I know so."

She pressed her green lips to his cheek, which spawned a half-swoon from him. In response, she kissed his cheek again. And again, each trailing closer to the middle of his face. Then, eventually, her lips stopped barely in front of his. Already their breathing had become uneven. Finally, she leaned her head forward and pressed her lips to his. Unlike last time, which was all full of animal lust, this kiss had a feeling of something pure in it. If he were in his right mind, Grasshopper would have tried to shove her off, but he was still distraught and this show of comfort was very welcome.

Nesira's finger gently traced the side of his head, gently rubbing down his neck, then traced his collarbone up to his shoulder to where she once again hugged him around the neck as she kissed him softly. An eventuality, passion began to be apparent as the time taken between kisses shortened and they became longer with more force. Nesira gripped the hair on the back of Grasshopper's head with one hand, and the back of his tunic with the other.

After some time, the kiss broke, an a look of pure feeling was in Nesira's eyes. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed Grasshopper back until he was flat on the bed, then followed him down, laying on top of him. She gently kissed his cheek as her legs became entwined with his and her arms once again wrapped around his neck. Once she was comfortable, she moved back to his face and resumed the soft, tender kiss.

There was a surprise for Nesira when Grasshopper's unexpected hand rose, landed on the side of her stomach, than moved to her bare back, joined by his other hand as he returned a hug, but around the chest area. Nesira didn't mind... this was a sign that he was appreciating it. Their kiss continued to increase in intensity, well, as much as a kiss can be with still closed mouths. his hands eventually caught the strap that kept her breastplate on. They stayed there and fondled, but eventually wandered off and back onto her flesh. She was relieved. Though she would have allowed him if he wanted to, she wouldn't have felt ready for going that far... with anybody, yet. She gently thanked him for reconsidering by quickly flicking her tongue on his lips.

After what seemed like a forever that never should have ended, the kiss broke mutually and Nesira took the time to give one more meaningful look into Grasshopper's eyes. After the long gaze, she gently clung to him, moving her head forward to softly rub her cheek to his in an affectionate nuzzle, which she continued until she fell asleep, Grasshopper following in suit.

-

The moon shines strong on a world that has been saved from the wrath of its dead. However, unrest exists in the land. Small in proportion, big in meaning. Grasshopper is at peace with his error... but will he ever be at peace with Cremia ever again?


	13. That Man, Max

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 13: That Man, Max**

Only the rising sun could have awakened Grasshopper from the peaceful sleep he enjoyed, and it did. Once he woke, Grasshopper couldn't help but to just feel... good. He felt warm all around, despite the fact of what he had caused to happen to the Romani Ranch the day earlier. The scene just went over and over in his mind, Romani giving Cremia the pleading look not to be so angry, and Cremia, unleashing an indignant fury upon him. However, there was a touch of sorrow in Cremia's eyes during that time, like she didn't want to be mad at him, but felt she had to. He supposed that it was all in her job to get that angry, to prosecute him to the fullest extent for endangering her ranch. But still... she didn't have to be so harsh.

How could he possibly feel good after all that happened? Grasshopper's face flared up red when he remembered what had happened when Cremia had left. Nesira had comforted him... to the best of her abilites for sure. Grasshopper gulped nervously, trying to retrace his steps mentally when all that Nesira did to him last night had happened. He was absolutely sure nothing... too intense had occurred. But still, for anything to happen at all. He remembered being distraught, and just wanted somebody there to tell him that he was good. Sure, it was pathetic of him, but he had just hurt the two girls he cared about the most and his mind was scatterbrained. He deduced that Nesira really wasn't all as bad as she came off, and was actually able to sympathize with him and take every measure to make him feel better. Her words were really strong. She really knew what he needed to hear, and without flattery and staying completely sincere, she was able to assure him that he was not as wicked as his underlying feelings dictated.

But that still did not explain the... the, well, making out, to put it bluntly. Maybe Nesira thought it necessary to help him feel better? Kind of a forced pleasure to jump-start getting his mind right again. But he had detected a bit of affection in her actions. Was Nesira trying to express hidden feelings of love with her actions? But... she has a current love. Did she find a better man in him than in her real love? Grasshopper exhaled, then realized that Nesira wasn't there. He was sure she had fallen asleep. He looked around for any sign, then noticed a note on top of the desk. He furrowed his brow, then picked it up, reading it aloud.

"I hope you are feeling better about yourself, because if what I did to ensure that didn't work, then you're more of a hopeless case than I thought. Don't get excited about our little moment last night. That was more out of trying to get your head out of your ass than anything else. You know that I'm taken! Besides, you needed some loving, anyway. If you want more help in gaining your confidence, or just want to talk, you know where to find me."

After looking over at Nesira's signature, Grasshopper gave a sigh of relief. It looked like things weren't going to become complicated, after all.

-

With his newfound confidence, Grasshopper descended the stairs where he smelled breakfast cooking. Romani popped from her chair to go to Grassshopper.

"Good morning, Grasshopper!"

"Morning, Kiddo. How are you feeling!"

"Like a new Romani!" The child beamed, lifting her dress a bit to point out bandages, but then cast a look at Cremia, then added darkly, "But I wouldn't talk to Sister. She seems normal, but when I talked about you, she wouldn't say anything."

Grasshopper looked at Cremia and noticed her preparing their meals, wearing a completely indifferent look. It was really quite frightening. Grasshopper took a moment to prepare himself, then walked over to Cremia, "Good morning, Cremia."

"Good morning, Grasshopper." Cremia said. Her voice seemed full of usual joviality, but Grasshopper could detect how flat it was.

"What have you got, there?" Grasshopper sniffed, "It smells delicious, as always!"

Cremia cast a look back, which seemed joyful enough, but seemed to hold back something darker, like Cremia truly was happy to see him, but couldn't help but to look at him differently, "Well, I can't have us all working on chores with an empty stomach now, can I?"

Grasshopper noted this as he sat down. It seemed that Cremia, deep down inside, still holds the same high regard for him, but on a more superficial level, she just couldn't let him just forget what he caused to happen in the ranch.

He had been wrong about things not getting complicated.

-

Thus, it was like that for a year. Cremia was herself around Grasshopper, but only. No longer did she seem to look at him for extended periods of time, give off little shivers at certain times, and Grasshopper really couldn't remember any time they shared an awkward or insightful moment they spent together during that one-year period. It seemed that their relationship had come to a complete halt, if not retracted, to becoming a shell of what it used to be.

Another mark of this particular year was the frequency in which Cremia forced Grasshopper and Romani out of the Ranch on some days. They really had no need to complain. Grasshopper and Romani were able to be out. They went to Clock Town often to just hang out with the locals, or warp to any such location to visit with the Deku royalty, play a game of Fin, or just explore around the Termina field.

However much he enjoyed himself, Grasshopper had an itch of concern nagging at him chronically. He just had a feeling that, with all the good times he is having, he was long overdue for some misfortune. Sure, Cremia's indifference was punishment enough, but our green-clad teen had a worse foreboding... a cataclysmic one.

This time, he was right.

-

Days like the aforementioned are never seen coming. They start like any other day, and may live out like any other day, but at the end of such a day, something will never be the same again. Be it a relationship, a physical appearance, a life in general, or a combination of many things that defined how like was lived before the day occurred. Thus, it is impossible to predict or anticipate such a day when whatever happens on that day will happen. It just happens, and it truly defines a person not how much they know, but what they do with what they know as soon as they know.

Grasshopper sure would have liked a lecture like that before his such day arrived.

It was in the afternoon. All the chores were done due to help from Clock Town by request. Apparently, Cremia had somewhere she had to be. Supposedly, an "arrangement" was about to be fulfilled on that day. Cremia had announced this in her calm voice that also gave an insanely persistent warning not to pry, so neither Romani nor Grasshopper did. And besides, it would not have done any good, besides unearth resentment, and that was the last thing Grasshopper wanted out in the open from Cremia. He still would have felt better about himself if he knew beforehand, just so he could have prepared emotionally.

Just what could happen that could do so much in so little time? Not what, but who.

Maxamilian.

Grasshopper was the last to see him out of the populace of the ranch, and it was probably for the best. Grasshopper was upstairs, working on the multitask to make new songs in case the Indigo-gos ringed him into yet another performance. It was during this that he looked out the window and saw a carriage approaching, signifying Cremia's return. It wasn't that he was indifferent, he just felt like he more wanted to work with his music rather than run down to a young woman who will give an empty smile and a hollow laugh.

The door opened, and the familiar footfalls of Romani approaching the door were heard. At least Cremia would not have to call for anybody when she entered.

Grasshopper was one to pick up on moods, and the tone of voice Romani put on when she greeted whoever was at the door was most distressed. Grasshopper decided to look into the matter.

Grasshopper pocketed the multitask and made for the stairs. He heard Cremia's somewhat surprised voice, but the voice of the two girls was not alone. It was joined by a third voice. The fact that it was a male's voice should have been Grasshopper's first warning. The brunette now walked down the stairs leisurly, as it seems Romani's tone early was unbased. On the fifth-to-last stair, Cremia noticed Grasshopper, prompting two other heads to swing in his direction.

The young man next to Cremia was very clean shaven with his blonde hair slicked back, covered by a brown hat and a thin mustache, dressed in a formal blue tunic with decorative stripes that covered a white shirt beneath and florid, designed pants. He stood in a reserved manner signature of aristocracy and held together his hands, borne in rings. Grasshopper finished the assessment with his black, expensive shoes when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Hello!" Grasshopper nodded in his friendly manner and held out his hand, "I don't believe we've met! I am Grasshopper."

The young man next to Cremia seemed to perk a little at hearing the name, taking and shaking the hand, "Oh, Grasshopper? So, I finally meet you! You can't be anywhere in Termina without hearing of one of the many adventures of Grasshopper. I honestly thought you were a myth."

"I assure you I am very much real."

"So you are. Oh, my manners. My name is Maximillian, but please, call me Max."

"All right... Max. So... what brings you to the Romani Ranch?"

Max seemed to wonder why Grasshopper would ask that. He looked to Cremia, then back to the teen in front of him. "Oh dear, Cremia... I do think this will be a bit awkward."

Grashopper furrowed his brow, then narrowed his eyes, "Why? ... Cremia, what is going on, here?"

Cremia's breathing increased in volume and she looked in the complete opposite direction, trying to avoid anybody's gaze.

Max noticed this discomfort and stepped forward, taking off his hat, "For a while, now. Cremia has been seeing me. Surely, you would notice many periods of time in which Cremia would step out?" The aristocrat waited for any response, muttered "oh, dear," then continued, "Well, we met a little bit of time ago and have been discussing the future of this ranch... financially, I mean. See, my agreement to sponsor a fine establishment like this is somewhat of a divine grace amongst those who, well, generally accept sponsorships. We have had many such meetings. But, um..." Max looked to Cremia for any reassurance to say what he had to say next, but it seemed not even she wanted him to say it, "I will quit beating around the bush so. Not all of our meetings have been all business. Sometimes we scheduled get-togethers at the milk bar or perhaps toured the now-docile marshes when we talked business... and sometimes, we really didn't talk business. We talked of more... internal matters." Despite what he had said, Max was still beating around the bush, "Only yesterday we had come to the decision."

Grasshopper felt it in his blood what Max was about to say, but still calmly poised himself and rose his eyebrows in curiosity, "Decision?"

Max cleared his throat for the umpteenth time. Cremia looked even further away than before and her face began with a tingle of red. Romani constantly looked between the three grown-ups, ever picking up on the negative and suspenseful vibrations resounding throughout the room. Max inhaled, then rather quickly said, "The decision to go steady."

There was a great setup amongst all in the room after the truth had been thrust out there. Max gripped his hat tighter, not really knowing how Grasshopper would react, for he surely knew everything about him that Cremia did. Cremia pressed her lips together tightly, covering her clenched teeth. Despite aiming her head away, she swiveled her closer eye to Grasshopper just to see the reaction. Even Romani wore a look that was terrified of what could happen. After all, Grasshopper had been prone to sudden actions as of late.

"Good for you."

The words seem to hang in the air and fall on deaf ears for a couple of seconds. It seems that the anticipation was so thick that it clogged all ears. But eventually, the three words bore themselves into all minds, leaving them to react.

"E... excuse me?" Max had to ask.

"Good for you." Grasshopper repeated, looking calm, or if not, holding a fantastic facade, "You two sound like you are having a good time, so, yes, good for you. If you get along as well as you say, then this is a step in the right direction."

For the next couple of seconds, there was a silence of disbelief. Had Grasshopper actually accepted all this? Romani could feel her illusive future hatched since day one crumble and tried to show this in her emotion. The older sister rubbed her arm and couldn't help but to wonder why Grasshopper was letting go so easily. After all they had been through, and not even an objection? Maybe a disbeliving request to repeat what the decision was? Just... passive acceptance?

One to break silences, Max did so again by clearing his throat and placing his hat back on his head. "Right. It's, ah, it's good to hear that you approve. Well, I must go now. Plenty of business to be done and only so many hours in a day. Cremia, goodbye. Little Romani, you too." Then with a tip of his hat, "Grasshopper."

Grasshopper responded with a nod, "See you around."

"Right, then." Max lingered at the door, flustered, until he realized he was leaving and abruptly turned back to his carriage.

"He called Romani 'little.'" Romani muttered.

-

The next day, Cremia had quickly dashed out to do chores, but more out of the need to avoid seeing Grasshopper. While coming down the stairs to have breakfast left on the table, Grasshopper paused at where he had stood the other day when he first met Maxamilian and leaned against the handrail for the stairs, seemingly in thought. Romani, was already standing near the stairway, waiting for him to come down. They were standing exactly where they were at that time.

"Don't you realized what just happened yesterday?" The little girl demanded upward.

Grasshopper looked back down, "Yeah... Cremia and Max are going to be a couple. It looks like they're going to be a good one, too."

Romani could not believe what she was hearing. After all the stories, after everything she had seen, something just wasn't right. "I just thought..."

"You're right to think that." Grasshopper cut in, looking at Romani, causing a silence for a bit before continuing, "But it's not there any more. What Cremia and I had vanished after what I had let happen to the ranch that year ago. Outwardly, she may seem the same, but whatever deeper feeling existed between us is now gone. I may have seemed oblivious, but I just didn't want to rattle any cages. There would have been nothing to gain."

That complete turn of character and revelation left Romani stunned and Grasshopper counting the wallpaper lines near him. There was an even longer following silence as Romani digested what was just said and Grasshopper waiting for a reaction out of Romani. Surely, even a child like her could have seen the changes between them in the year.

"Okay." Romani muttered, just to break the horrid silence, willing her world not to fall apart, then decided to act, albeit one step at a time. "Well, I know she doesn't love HIM."

Grasshopper looked down again, "Who? Max?"

"Yes. Did you ever wonder why she got a boyfriend who has money? It's no coincidence." She continued after Grasshopper's silence urged her further. She took a deep breath, "It's the ranch. The Romani Ranch has little to no money to fund itself, and I'll bet anything Sister thinks that the only way to keep us safe is to be with a guy with lots of money."

"You think so?" The stairway stander mused, then looked off, "In all fairness, she probably should have told me... I could have tried something before Cremia put this into motion. Not that I think she doesn't love him... It's possible, but what you are saying is possible, too." To cover any more conversation, Grasshopper's nervous cough ate a couple of seconds, then he got an idea, "I'm going into town after breakfast, I can do my chores later. Tell your sister for me, okay?"

"Why can't YOU tell her?" Romani piqued up.

That question meant so much more by itself than it did in the context of that current conversation. Grasshopper replied to the question in the former context darkly, "I wish I could." he then landed on the floor of the kitchen.

-

Grasshopper rode Butterfly into Clock Town. The residents were well adjusted, so no commotion was caused by him. They were still all abuzz, but not about Grasshopper, but very close. Grasshopper got his first taste of the gossip from the two men who juggled in the open area near the Stock Pot Inn.

"Well, brother, it would appear that girl Cremia down at the ranch has all but tied the knot. Can you imagine? And at such a young age."

The blue clad brother made a laugh with his mouth forming a perfect circle, "Oh ho, yes! Everybody is so happy for her... but are we really?"

"Just what do you mean?" The one in red furrowed his large brows.

"Oh, don't act so out-of-the-loop. Wasn't it you who told me you would bet money on that she and that boy would get together?"

"You got me." The red brother made a gesture very quickly before resuming the pace of juggling, "Yeah, I did say that. It seemed rather meant to be, didn't it? He lands there, she finds him... it sounds like something out of a fairy tale, it does."

"But after that attack on the ranch, I'd hear Cremia doesn't look at that boy the same." This new talk came from one of the trio of dancers, practicing on the other end of the open space.

The blue brother nodded, or perhaps it was just the physical pacing of the juggling, "That sure got around, I think merely hours after the younger sister was brought in to be treated. Where did you hear it from? I got it from him."

The indicated red brother also did a supposed nod, "I got it from you."

The indicated dancing sister did not break stride in her dance, "We got it from each other."

"I heard it from Kafei, the innkeeper's husband," another dancer continued, paused to perform a flip, then resumed, "but I know where it originated."

"Do tell!" The brothers unisoned.

"It was supposed to be secret, but the Bomber Gang was just off work from the observatory and were able to spy in through the doctor's window, because it was the only one that had any light coming from it. They looked in long enough to hear what had happened, something about monsters attacking the ranch. It had been resolved, but not before Romani was hurt something fierce. The leader, Jim, immediately went to Viscen about it. It was cute, because he seemed more worried about Romani's well-being than the ranch's."

"What a dear!" The so-far silent triplet spoke.

"Ah!" The blue juggler exclaimed, "So Cremia is sore at Grasshopper for not protecting the girl, maybe? I know the bartender got it from the horse's mouth, and I don't mean that beautiful beast he comes in on."

The red juggler cleared his throat very loudly, and the reason why galloped nearby. The jugglers held their objects and the dancers all but froze.

"Preparing for this weekend?" Grasshopper asked of the five.

"Yes, yes!" The red juggler spoke up, "Busy as always!"

Butterfly snorted at all the through-the-teeth pleasantry. Grasshopper smiled, "With that kind of intensity, I'm sure we'll have a good show! Anything new?"

"Same stuff, but we are working towards new material." A dancer said.

"It sounds great!" The mounted teen nodded, "Well, I'd best be off."

Farewells were exchanged and Butterfly trotted off.

Once Grasshopper was out of earshot, the juggling brothers gingerly tossed their objects until they got another rythm going and the dancers took their routine from the top.

"If he is hurting, he is hiding it very well." A dancer muttered.

"You said it!" The red juggler said, trying to get his brother and himself more concentrated into the juggling.

Meanwhile, Grasshopper exhaled as he patted his crimson horse's neck, "That had 'behind my back' written all over it."

Butterfly whinnied softly in agreement.

-

The door to the milk bar opened, allowing Grasshopper access. He took his usual stool and gestured for his usual order of milk, recieved at a discount for obvious reasons. Once it was served, the bartender resumed cleaning out the inside of a glass with a clean rag, as he always does when he wants to talk to a customer.

"How are you holding up?"

Grasshopper looked up from his milk, "Holding... up?"

The bartender realized Grasshopper's genuine confusion and cleared his throat, "You know... Cremia has a beau now... taken, as some would say."

The brunette put his glass down, "Why does everybody think that I would and am taking Cremia's pairing up badly? If everybody is so in the know, they would know why I am not."

"Of course, of course. But it doesn't affect you... at all?"

"No. It could have under different circumstances."

"I suppose, but do circumstances really make the opinion? Is there really a situation that can change one's outlook?"

"It's not the situation, but how one takes it."

"Well spoken, I guess..." The bartender trailed off, then looked back, "I really do hope you are not just kidding yourself, Grasshopper."

Grasshopper had a response worked out for that, but he reflected on it more, narrowing his eyes and slowly tipping the glass. Once he had finished the milk, he nudged it forward, and got up. "I hope so, too."

-

What Grasshopper had thought before stood. Whenever he came across multiple people in conversation, it was the same thing. They would hush up, then stare for a bit before Grasshopper forced more masking pleasantries upon them.

"One thing is for sure," Nesira said after having her take on the matter asked of her, "Something just isn't right about all this."

"What do you mean?" Grasshopper asked, having come to be eager to know what Nesira has to say, for anything is liable to come out of her mouth.

Nesira nibbled her lower lip for a second, trying to articulate her thoughts, then settled on a gathering of words and spoke, "Unlike most who pin it on any old scandelous thought, I just have an off feeling about it. It could be one thing, it could be a multitude of things. It could be something as simple as he is forcing her to associate with him - which I am NOT insinuating, or it could just be a bad feeling that all is not right with that pairing. After all, you and Cremia ARE the "meant to be" couple, no matter what anybody says otherwise."

"That's their opinion. I think you know full well why that can't be now."

"So what if she yelled at you? If I yelled at you,would that mean that I'd like you less?"

Grasshopper thought on that, then cocked an eyebrow. "When are you NOT yelling?"

"Exactly." Nesira nodded in agreement at her foibles, "It's my way of communicating. Now, you can go at this two ways. You can remain supporitve of this, and either one, leave Cremia with a man she may not actually love, or two, have Cremia see that you, o man of action, is doing nothing and be forced to take her own action in admitting how much of a fraud this all is. OR you could go around behind this guy's back and find his deepest, darkest secret and expose him in hopes of dispelling whatever he had over her. "

"That doesn't seem very safe. I either stick with it with no certainty that Cremia would do anything in response to nothing, or risk getting in even more trouble. I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't."

"So there's no reason to 'don't,' is there?" Nesira grinned at her ability to twist the words to sound otherwise nonsensical, but still get a point across.

-

Every corner contained gossip, and some even talked about doing something about this odd circumstance. However, only one group was able to gather the resolve to actually do anything.

They were conspiring when a shadow fell over them, then shrunk as Grasshopper lowered himself, "Okay, what are you boys up to this time?"

The Bombers all scrambled into a line to properly salute Grasshopper on his arrival. Jim stepped forward to report, "We're trying to take that Max guy down!"

"Take him down?" Grasshopper widened his eyes at this show of malice from the Bomber, "Isn't that a little harsh?"

"Well... not 'take down,' exactly," Jim scratched the back of his head, "but we don't think he ought to take Miss Cremia. We've seen enough false niceness to recognize it!"

"False niceness?"

Jim hit his fist into his palm, "Yeah! We saw him at the marketplace and he bought candies for all of us! Well, actually, he didn't really seem to be hiding anything... but the better the actor, the worse the character underneath!"

"Don't you think you're being a bit paranoid? I mean, there's the possibility that he just wanted to get you guys some candy."

"Well... maybe." Jim hung his head and drew a circle into the ground with his foot. Then he looked up, "But we know that he is meeting with the mayor today! And if that Mognar guy taught us anything, it's that true colors shine bright when one talks politics! We know you want to see that guy for who he truly is! Do you really want Miss Cremia to marry a guy she doesn't like?"

"Marry?" Grasshopper cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, it'll happen eventually." Jim shrugged.

The image was forced into Grasshopper's head. Cremia and Max arm in arm walking away together. She'd cast a look over her shoulder, asking why he let her go through with this.

"I'll do it." Grasshopper muttered, half to himself. "So how are you going to get your way into the office to hear this meeting?"

"Ah-ah...!" Jim interrupted, "No secrets, now. Just stand by the back window and take the cup. You'll know what I mean. Let's go, men!"

"Yes, sir!" The Bombers chorused and they all bounded off to enact their plan.

Grasshopper watched them go, then exhaled, "Well, I'm too far in it now. Hope this is worth it."

-

He felt really bad about sneaking around the Mayor's house and office, but if the ends justified the means, Grasshopper would feel that all's well in the end. He found the indicated window and looked through it out of impulse, seeing the mayor at his desk, then get up and walk to his door where Grasshopper saw a flash of cobalt before ducking down. It was Maxamilian himself.

He sat down roughly and strained to hear, but really could get nothing inteligible from the talk. A cup on a string suddenly bounded down and bounced off his chest a bit before he took it. He looked up and saw a hand giving the thumbs-up gesture coming from a high hole in the wall, the same hole where the string lead. Grasshopper didn't know what to do until the cup talked to him. The initial surprise made him fumble with the cup, but then he put it to his ear to hear the voice.

It blew his mind to hear the voiced of Max and the mayor through the cup! He thought of considering this little trick the coolest thing he had every seen, but then quickly considered the multitask and placed the cup and string at second.

"How do you like Clock Town?" The mayor's voice came through, a bit echoed, but very clear all the same. It seems Grasshopper got the cup at a good point.

"Oh, very enjoyable." This was Max's response. "The people here are friendly and there is so much culture packed within the confines of the circular walls, it's so amazing."

"Are you finding the Stock Pot Inn to your liking? Perhaps a man of your taste would prefer the guest residence of my home...?" It was hard whether the mayor was trying to kiss up for financial reasons, or just be hosptiable. Knowing the mayor, it was most likely the latter.

"I love it!" Max quickly said to stop the gushing, "I was born rich, so I always slept on pillows and cushions filled with the finest down and covered in silk that was never local. Most would be repulsed by sleeping at a common inn, but I found the change to be rather... fun. Also, I was isolated from everybody when it came to living at home, but I would always hear the idle chat of the people in the next room over, or maybe even the room over after that! It's amazing how in your society, common social interaction with those around you is in high regard, even higher than the high society socials I attend, in which only business is talked about and for brief snippets of conversation before moving on to the next businessman. I never thought such a place existed... I'm so glad I chose to stay for this visit."

The mayor could be heard making confirming mouth noises, then chuckling, "It makes me so glad to hear about that! What made you stay in town this time, as opposed to leaving like always?"

There was a pause, most likely on Max's part, until he spoke up as if an assumption of his was just dashed. "Oh, well, I would think that you of all people would be up on the town's most gripping gossip."

"You and Cremia?" The mayor muttered slowly, so as to retract it if he were off course.

"Precisely." Max's words contained a nod in them, "I think everybody in a wide radius knows of what has been going on as far as my relationship with Cremia is concerned."

Grasshopper readjusted his sitting position. He felt that the part he was waiting for was about to come.

"It's as simple as that?" The mayor tried to piece together, "You and Cremia have decided to become a real couple and you wished merely to be closer to her for a bit of time to better enjoy the start of this new step?"

There was another pause, probably Max nodding. "Of course, I don't wish to burden Cremia with the bad aspects of a long-term relationship right away. Thus, I want to be there for her, and eventually, I'll find my way to asking her to move away with me."

Across the line, Grasshopper could hear the nearly tumultous but still quiet minute uproar the Bombers were making from their unknown vantage point of viewing the meeting. Grasshopper was no different in terms of reaction. Cremia... move away? Surely, she would never abandon her post, left behind to her by her late father!

"Cremia would not do that." The mayor said quickly, sharing the same sentiments, "I knew her father, a very strong-willed and strong-headed man. If she is anything like her father, Cremia will not only refuse, but lay the law on that matter."

It was good that the mayor got that out there. Grasshopper nodded as if someone were watching. That ought to teach Max to mess with things as they were! That thought soon leaked out, as during that thought's formation and execution, there was a silence from the cup. Grasshopper considered tapping it to test its structural integrity. He soon got a response, however.

Max's voice began with a drawl of a vowel, then finally speech, "I'm not too sure about that. See, at of late when we talk, Cremia has been expressing a certain, oh, weariness with running the Romani Ranch. Honestly, I rarely see how she manages. She is so young but with so much responsibility, I really commend her for upkeeping the ranch thus far!"

"Are you sure?" The mayor's voice was hardly heard considering the path of the string and his low voice, "Cremia is ready to up and leave the ranch?"

Max's voice cut in before the final syllable, "Those were not her exact words! At first I thought she was venting, but over and over she kept dropping comments on how sometimes it just isn't worth the effort and worry if it will all fall apart in the end."

Was that how Cremia felt? That, all in all, she was more likely to end up failing? On one hand, it would be a lot less of a disappointment to Romani to just sell the farm and move, but to just give up before every hope was lost was not the way to go about in life.

Grasshopper's thoughts seemed to trail right in and out of the mayor's mouth, "Are... you absolutely sure? It sounds like a great shame to me."

"I am sure." Max's voice seemed to carry some disappointment of his own. After a silence, Max spoke again, "Well, it seems we've spent a good majority of my appointment talking on this matter. We really should get down to business before the performing troupe comes, as I heard."

"Of course." The mayor responded, sounding knocked out of a daze, which he undoubtedly was.

As Max and the mayor began talking about terms and loans, Grasshopper let go of the cup and let it dangle from the string. The Bomber on the end must have felt this slack, for the cup shortly reeled in. The green-clad teen let his conflicted head bump the wall behind him noiselessly as every detail of the conversation played back through his head. Cremia could be gone. Before, he would not have minded, for reconciling with Cremia appeared to be a lost cause. But since Max presented a threat of her leaving, he has been going through much reconsideration of his feelings. Was it really too late? Because if there was any time to try, it would be now. The fact that the incident with the ReDeads was never ever discussed again and just left to stagnate and rot away at their relationship did not help.

Absent-mindedly plucking and dropping blades of grass, the Romani Ranch's beloved former amnesiac recalled all his great adventures, too numerous to tell in their entirety, and picked out the parts where everything seemed impossible, too stacked against him to be able to make anything of, and how most of, if not every case, ended out well for him. If this was a time to act, then it had to be now. Faint footfalls from around the corner loudened as shadows grew and eventually the Bomber Gang, out of breath from running over, or perhaps all the revelation in the conversation, or maybe both, arrived, all full of indignant fury. Before they spoke, Grasshopper herded them around so they were no longer under the window into the mayor's office.

"Unacceptable!" Jim was able to gasp finally. "Miss Cremia can't leave! She gives us the milk we love to drink! What'll that leave us with, that Gorman stuff? Never! Plus, we'll never get to see Romani again."

Grasshopper couldn't help popping a smirk, "You care about whether Romani goes or stays?"

"I guess." Jim shrugged and seemed to be hiding his face to the best of his ability. "She's fun to play around with, unlike the other girls."

Jim most certainly spoke omiting the incident which earmarked the first encounter Grasshopper had with the Bombers. One could suppose that so much has changed since then and now that it made no difference if the stolen locket was ever brought up.

"So what do you guys plan on doing?" Grasshopper scratched the back of his head, remembering fierce egging of Mognar a little past a year ago. "Because where I stand, we didn't exactly hear a shady dealing full of illegit goings-on. Max and the mayor merely discussed what was going on with Cremia."

"That's how it's going to be a challenge to make him NOT take Cremia away! Don't you want Cremia to stay? It seems you're rooting for Max to win."

"I am NOT." Grasshopper folded his arms, "I was merely stating the facts. I don't want you to think that whatever solved past problems will completely work now. The last thing I need is to be any more in the doghouse with Cremia."

"Woah..." Jim breathed.

"Get it now?" Grasshopper nodded

"Miss Cremia's making you sleep in a doghouse?"

In response to that, Grasshopper slapped his right hand over his eyes and slowly wiped it down his face

-

Rather than face Cremia and do his chores by her word, Grasshopper rode Butterfly into her stable and started his chores by himself. At the moment, he really couldn't face Cremia for a multitude of reasons. He really didn't know if he'd be able to keep the news of Max's plans to himself if brought face-to-face with her. Then there was the always-present hidden hostility Cremia always kept.

On a different note, it could be for the best that Cremia could be moving away. No doubt the stress of keeping a poorly staffed ranch has affected her health, and having to live with somebody that you've come to care less about, this person being Grasshopper, it only makes things worse. Would Cremia even feel sorry to leave Grasshopper behind? Either she really has cut off every emotional string for good, or she has done a great job of pretending. If the latter, then it would have to be the most spiteful thing that Grasshopper has ever encountered. Did whatever they have mean so little that Cremia would so easily revert to a state of indifference because of something that happened over a year ago?

Everybody kept on telling him that he had to do something, that he was the one who had to take action in order to change the outcome of this circumstance. To look over his life after awakening with no memory, that was somewhat true. Most often he had been the one to take the initiative or give the push to solve problems. However, those dealt with other people's problems. Now that this hit home, it was much harder to stare obstacles in the face and deal with them. This time, it may be out of his hands. If he could at least share the burden, it would feel better, but this is either all on him or not at all.

When he thought about it, his situation was vaguely similar to Cremia's. All this thought and forethought and prethought and thoughts within thoughts were really taxing him. He just wished this horrible situation would just go away and not force him to do anything about it. With the aforementioned comparison in mind, Grasshopper decided to settle it the same way Cremia did hers, by inaction. All his life it was he who made the changes, but now he had to lead by not leading. If Cremia still wanting to reconcile, she would have to see that Grasshopper is doing nothing and hopefully it would spur her to action. Anything would suffice. Nesira had said, "There's no reason to 'don't,'" but by this time Grasshopper was so fed up with the entire situation that he would rather ball it up and toss it into the nearest waste basket.

-

Three "good nights" were exhanged before all sources laid down to bed. Romani most certainly kept thinking about ways to keep Max from coming between Grasshopper and Cremia, but even to stare into Cremia's eyes for the longest time would not reveal anything about her deepest thoughts to the most skilled of interpreters. Grasshopper, however, merely focused on which cow hasn't been milked in the longest time, for the one with the most milk is milked first.

The sun laid to rest as well. It sunk into the mountains and out of sight, a lot like how a problem can disappear for a while, but the sun always comes back the next morning, and often, so does a problem that remains unsolved.


	14. Hooligans

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 14: Hooligans**

Ever since that fateful day when the man named Maxamilian came into the lives of the populace of the Romani Ranch, things have been turned upside-down, to say the least. Where Max would come without revealing himself before, he now walked right up to the door of the main house and asked for Cremia if it wasn't her who answered. Sometimes, he would even stay a while if the day's plans so called for it. Grasshopper, the resident man of the household, really didn't make second thoughts of it, but most certainly Romani, the younger sister, made a raucus at every opportunity. Cremia would all but beg her sister to be more supportive, but to no avail.

At least, that's how things were. After a while, things quieted down, with Romani and with the nearby Clock Town. It would appear that the latest gossip has finally died down to becoming common knowledge. The conspiracies stopped and soon the town was back to a calm, albeit boring peace. Even Romani was able to at least stop hating Max and come to accept that, at least for now, this was the way things would be going, and that whining and the like would do nothing for anything.

At first, Grasshopper's silence was a suffering one. After hearing about all the possibilities of the association with Max and Cremia, it stirred something in him that would normally spring him into action. Recent events, however, have dampened this sense and made him reconsider, keeping in mind that action would more likely worsen the situation. The lack of action added to the purposeful silence eventually came to nearly drive him mad, so he took another course of action. He got a job.

It was a simple part-time deal at the milk bar. Cremia was averse, but expressed it less as she spent increasing time with Max. Romani, however, used up her stored indignity to hotly contest on the grounds that if Grasshopper left, then she would have nobody to talk to for the aforementioned reason of Cremia's inability to be around so much. In time, Romani forced herself to accept yet another blemish in the perfect world that she had constructed in her mind.

-

Grasshopper's job at the milk bar was, in fact, rather theraputic for him. Not only did it take him away from an unpleasant setting, but put him in a much more supportive one, surrounded by the Clock Townspeople and for the first time not doing work that would make him sore afterward. There were enough people who came that there was no monotony, but new faces were still very welcome to Grasshopper. After a drought of new customers, a new customer did indeed arrive, and it was either rotten or good luck that the group of other new faces came at exactly the same time.

It was the day that the bartender entrusted Grasshopper with his own job. He had so much trust in Grasshopper that he would finally, after many years, defy his unaltering schedule and finally take a bit of time off at the beach. It seemed that new guest room in the fisherman's house, completed two months ago, actually did take in some business. It surprised many to see Grasshopper wearing the bartender's apron and cleaning the inside of a bottle with a rag. It was a good surprise, however, and the milk bar made a lot of business when word got around. On the second day, Grasshopper was carefully sorting the collection of souvenir glasses alphabetically by where they were obtained when the door opened and a beam of light ceased shining in his eye, meaning somebody was there.

Grasshopper turned around, leaving the Ikana Canyon glass before the Cape Zora glass, "Welcome to the Clock Town milk bar. How may I help you?"

At this time he finally looked and saw somebody he never saw before. This was a young man in his late teens at least. His appearance cried of the "prince charming" stereotype, but with a little mystery flair. He had flowing blonde hair that covered one of his very blue eyes. He was clothed in noble garb that included a blue laced vest with an orange tunic underneath, leading to a pair of white pants that look like they had never been used despite the fact they are currently being worn.

"What would you suggest?" The young man sat down and looked all around, obviously on his first trip to the milk bar, or perhaps to Clock Town in general.

Having rehearsed the following sentence, fine-tuning it so it didn't seem needy or rehearsed, it flowed out of Grasshopper like one breathes. "If you are looking for our finest drink, then let me suggest you have a cup of our Cheteau Romani, milked fresh and delivered from the Romani Ranch not too far from here." It was his opinion in all honesty, it was just hard to deliver it in a sincere manner.

"Sure... that." The customer muttered, his mind obviously elsewhere.

Grasshopper cocked an eyebrow at the preoccupation in front of him and planned to break the ice when he served the milk. Once he got a cup of Cheteau Romani down, he waited a bit before engaging. "So, you're not from around here?"

Surprisingly enough, the young man seemed to make a snort, like Grasshopper had made a grand understatement. Once he recomposed himself, he half-muttered, "Not at all."

"Right." Grasshopper paused for a bit, wondering in what context would being far away from Clock Town could be ridiculous. After a bit of thought, he realized he still had the young man's attention, then seemed to spasm out of his thoughts, "OH... well, my name is Grasshopper."

The young man actually looked at Grasshopper in response to that, searching for truth in that odd name. Sure enough, Grasshopper gave the same "Yes, that _is_ my name" look he was used to giving after introductions. "Guess you see and hear new things every day after all." The young man grinned, "Name's Van."

They shook hands, then retreated back into silence. Usually new people would recognize the name in some way, shape, or form, but it seemed that Van had never heard anything about anything related to Grasshopper.

"I don't mean to sound needy or boastful," Grasshopper started, fulfilling the nagging thought, "but haven't you heard that name before? 'Grasshopper?'"

Van's lone visible eye scanned around, more out of showing a confused emotion than anything else. "Should I have?"

This was really peculiar. Unless Van lived somewhere in the deserts, he really should have heard _something_.

"Never mind, then." Grasshopper quickly said, then to change the subject, "What brings you here?" Grasshopper all but blurted, literally speaking before any thought was put into it.

Van seemed to consider something. Perhaps whether to tell this acquaintence of his real intentions, make something up, or just flat-out refuse. He chose a fourth option, "I don't think you'd be entertained, nor believe me."

Grasshopper thought about all the stories he could tell that were very factual, but could fit under what Van had just said. "Try me. Please." If what Van had to say was anything more like anything Grasshopper had experienced, it ought to be good.

"Fine." Van placed down his mug, as if saying what he had to say required concentration. "A long time ago... well, not here, in Clock Town, I mean. To this place it was only a bit of time ago. Anyway, a bit of time ago, this kid comes to... uhm... Clock Town. From a... different location." Van exhaled, as if the hard part was over. "See, this kid, he had some crazy adventures, mostly dealing with time. He would alter time on a whimsy, slowing it down or just skipping halves of days altogether. Okay, now to get to the point. As I said, this kid had the ability to slow down time, about by a third of the normal flow of time. It was all good and well when he was here in Clock Town, but when he left, he forgot to lift this slowing down of time. Somehow, leaving Clock Town made time go back to normal for all the people living in Clock Town, but the truth was time was still going slowly."

"One third the speed." Grasshopper confirmed.

"Yes. So if one year passed in Clock Town, three years passed everywhere else. If you took that three times, that's what's happened here."

Grasshopper did the math, "So you're saying it has been three years since this kid left, but everywhere else it's been nine."

"Exactly. That's all over now, though. I was sent to... Clock Town to set things right. Nobody here noticed it, but where I come from, we can tell."

"So... Just Clock Town? Because I've been everywhere in Termina just about and I haven't noticed anything strange."

Van jutted his jaw in thought, coughed, then said behind his newly picked up mug, "The slowing down probably had a very wide radius."

"I guess." Grasshopper muttered, only pretending to understand. A thought then hit him and he acted upon it, "So... where did you say you were from, again?"

That question seemed to catch Van off guard. He nearly choked on the Chetau Romani he was drinking and seemed to take the rest of his swig very slowly to buy time. Van got his wish, but in the worst way possible.

"You're in my seat." A menacing voice hissed from behind.

Both Grasshopper and Van looked up to see a group of young adults, not unlike the former two, behind. They were much different in another way, sporting outfits of torn leather and nasty grimaces on their faces. The leader, a young man with shorter hair and a goatee stepped forward and leaned in toward Van.

"Excuse me?" Van asked.

"_Said_ you're in my seat. Get out. Now."

"I was here first." Van responded, only trying to apply logic to this situation.

The apparent leader of the group spoke up again as if he were a king and Van was a peasant who just talked back. "I know that. Doesn't mean that seat is mine. See, Rash calls them as he sees them, and I call that seat mine."

"Excuse me," Grasshopper echoed Van's earlier line, "But have you gentlemen every been to this establishment before? Every seat is as important as the last and we at the Milk Bar would like to avoid confrontation."

"Stay outta this." Rash, the goateed one snapped, adding, "Stiff." he looked back to Van, "I'll say this once more, get out of my seat, or we'll just have to slap you out of it."

Rash didn't wait for Van to refuse to act upon his threat. His arm came at a high speed with the fist aimed at Van's temple. Van was too quick to react, however, and caught the arm with little effort.

"Let _me_ say _this_ just once, all right?" Van said quickly and venomously, "You and your little gaggle of goons will leave and never come back to this fine town or when I'm done with you you'll be sitting on this stool _and_ lying on the floor at the same time. Think about that one." he indicated the sword and hilt in his hip.

There was a tense silence for a bit where nobody knew what to do until one of the 'gaggle of goons,' a rather burly member, swung at Van to release Rash, which ended up in another failure as Grasshopper's fist rammed into his face before the former's fist could get to Van's.

Rash wrenches his fist out of Van's grip harmlessly, circling it about to regain circulation, "What the hell, man? Couldn't have just moved from the damn seat, could you? Yeah, well Rash is getting the last laugh, hear? If you both love this place so much, we're tearing it down come midnight. Don't even think of stopping us, 'cause we'll be packing heat, know what I'm saying? Let's go, guys."

The gang left in a huff, trying to look menacing as they piled out the lone door. This left Grasshopper and Van in a bit of a hush, trying to comprehend just what happened.

"Hooligans, the whole lot." Van fumed, "Thinking they can get whatever they want by playing on fear and having the ability to inflict physical harm. I'll bet they're all a bunch of bloody cowards underneath. Just because they made some bad lifestyle decisions doesn't mean they ought to take it out on us decent members of society." It took all that time for Van to realize just what he had done. "Wait, they said they were coming back? Oh... I'm so sorry for what I've gotten this place in to."

"Don't be." Grasshopper sighed, "I probably would have done the exact same thing you did, word for word, if that happened to me." he then moved to the door.

"What are you doing?" Van asked.

Grasshopper flipped the sign to indicate the Milk Bar's closing, "I've got a midnight rendezvous with those guys and I have to get prepared."

"I'll be here, too." Van stood up. "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to this bar or you on my account."

There was a bit of unreadable silence. Was Grasshopper about to deny Van's help, insist that he had it under control? Would Grasshopper burst into a speech enforcing the earlier statement that it really wasn't Van's fault? Grasshopper leaned against the wall and said, "All right. But come prepared for anything, got it?"

"No less." Van smiled, patting his sword.

"And Van?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for sticking around. It really means a lot when somebody willingly shares a burden."

"What are friends for?"

Grasshopper cocked an eyebrow. "Friends?"

The prince-like young man's visible eye widened for a split second as he realized just what he said, but then it narrowed more serenely. "Yeah, I guess so. Friends."

-

Grasshopper dropped by the Romani Ranch house to get his stuff and tried to avoid Cremia and/or Max the entire time. He picked up a few things, examining some new stuff, and steeled himself for yet another nightime encounter. He considered whether or not to bring Butterfly to the Milk Bar, but decided it was in her best interest to leave her out of this one.

"Does constantly getting oneself in trouble beyond normal standards count as self-destructive behavior?" Grasshopper asked his horse, "If so, then I really need to get my head checked."

Butterfly snorted merrily, as if trying to tell her master that he was being silly. Then, as she had always done, the crimson horse looked past Grasshopper. By now, Grasshopper could tell who was entering the horse barn by the way Butterfly looked past. This gaze was a tense one, like a person Grasshopper would rather avoid talking to. Grasshopper looked around and saw not Cremia, not Romani, but Maxamilian himself.

"Beautiful horse, if I may say so." Max nodded, hands entrenched nervously in his pockets.

Grasshopper kept a straight face, "Thanks. Butterfly was a gift from the mayor."

"Oh?" Max made an attempt to look Grasshopper in the face, but had to tear away at the last second, "Um... what did you do?"

The vision of taking down a whole battalion of Clock Town guards flashed through Grasshopper's mind, but he white-lied, "Did some service for the town."

"Sounds admirable." The aristocrat made an impressed face, "All the horses where I come from are kept in a large stable with plenty of food and water and a strict training regimen." He gingerly reached out and seemed surprised when Butterfly made no move to avoid his hand when he wanted to gently stroke her snout. "You would think they would be loving their life. I thought so. But looking at this creature... Butterfly, is it? Looking at her, I see much more of a spark of... well, for the lack of anything else to say, life. That's just how we rich types are, aren't we? We think we know everything because we have earned our fortunes, but we really don't. We treat our horses like living investments, refuse to feel anything for anything we spend money on. Why is it we who have made the most success for ourselves have all the capacity for existing, but choose never to actually live?"

Even Butterfly could tell that Max was no longer talking about horses. Her almost nervous eye roll back and forth showed this. Max fell into silence as he stroked Butterfly's muzzle, as if doing so was his very first act of living.

"Max?" Grasshopper couldn't help but interject.

"Oh!" Max returned to Termina with a metaphorical thud, "Dreadfully sorry... I just sometimes never know when to stop, you must understand."

Grasshopper thought back to how many times an arrow to the head looked pretty darn good when Nesira would talk for seemingly hours on end, "I understand fully."

"So you do." Max muttered, "I know we never got off on a right foot. Don't deny it, I can tell. As a matter of fact, perhaps one time we really ought to talk. I've heard third-person perspectives on all your exploits, but I really want to hear it from the horse's mouth. Um, no offense, Butterfly."

Butterfly snorted dismissively.

"How does tonight sound?" Max finished.

Grasshopper thought and moved his mouth to say yes when a nagging rememberance stopped him. "Ahh... sorry. But the Milk Bar is... it's... giving me a midnight shift."

Max frowned, "Midnight shift?"

"Oh yes." Grasshopper acted out, "Sometimes people will have trouble sleeping, you know? They come to the milk bar for a drink and the nice, cold milk will help them get to sleep."

"Makes... sense... I suppose."

"So, maybe another time?"

Max smiled in resignation, "Another time, then."

The soft footfalls of Max leaving died out until there was nothing. Grasshopper got up to resume his preparations for the night. He asked his horse, "Am I becoming so nice that I can't even lie properly any more?"

Butterfly nodded merrily.

-

It would have been nice to have the ability to skip ahead in time like the kid in Van's story, but since Grasshopper had no means of figuring out how, he would have to wait like normal for midnight to arrive. He stood in the Milk Bar, behind the counter. Once he had entered, he immediately realized that he had no clue how Rash and his gang would be introducing themselves. No doubt they would break a window or batter down the door to get in. This train of thought was why Grasshopper was a bit shocked to hear the door open like normal. His alarm did not last long, for the silhouette in the moonlight had too long of hair to be Rash or any of his goons.

"Van!" Grasshopper exhaled, "How did you open the door?"

"You left it unlocked, I suppose. Preoccupied much?" Van closed the door, then tipped the wooden bar that thunked over the doorknob, keeping the door from being opened normally.

Grasshopper turned red at his mistake, but got over it. "Well, of course. We don't even know if these guys are going to show when when they said. Plus we don't know what kind of 'heat' they're packing."

"Ech." Van waved a hand, "If anything, they'll just bring the basics for mischief making. I'll bet they are hoping we aren't here because they know their true cowardice will make them look idiotic when the time for encounters comes."

"I certainly hope so." Grasshopper looked about, every shadow a potential hooligan and every bump in the night holding the possibility of having been made by a hostile body.

At that point, everything had been established, so Grasshopper and Van had nothing to discuss. This left the silence having a nice conversation with the nighttime noises. Every source of light in the Milk Bar was not in use, so it left the room in silhouettes and beams of moonlight. The colors in the bar appeared to be dimmed down almost to the point of shades of gray. Sure, Grasshopper had been against much worse, but that really didn't mean it was any less nerve racking.

A sound came from the back room, a slipping followed by a soft pat. Both Grasshopper and Van whirled upon this direction. They both listened intently for any follow-up sounds. To both triumph and dismay, they heard another set of sounds nearly identical.

"Is there a window in the back room?" Van quickly asked in a voice that was quieter than an ant's footfall.

Grasshopper thought, then responded, "Yeah. It's faced toward the Clock Town walls, though. Nobody really notices it."

"I guess you never noticed it either, or you would have locked it too."

Grasshopper's face flared up again.

"Whatever." Van rolled his eyes. "All in the past. At least now we can have the element of surprise since we know where they're coming from."

"I know just what to do. Come on." Grasshopper gestured for Van to follow and they both hopped the counter to the door to the back room. The door to the back room was opened without sound and closed as such.

In the back room, Rash had just landed from the window and looked around the back room. It was filled with various containers of milk and glasses that needed washing or had been washed. "All right, guys." Rash said in a lower-than-normal voice, but still at an ameteur volume for what he was planning. "We do not want anybody to easily see what we're going to do. Let's just bust anything we find, but make sure nobody can notice from the outside. That way, those fools will walk right in tomorrow and see their precious bar in ruins. You guys ready?"

There was a low cheer followed by a collected unveiling of respective weapons for wrecking purposes, like clubs, swords, torches, and one goon even held a ball-and-chain. The one thing Rash never thought of were the rafters in the ceiling. They were deceptively far from the actual roof, giving certain shadow-stalking defenders the opportunity to hide up there and strike when appropriate. As soon as the group had disbanded to create some trouble, two of them hung back to keep watch. With unprecedented stealth, Grasshopper and Van leapt down from the ceiling and delivered swift blows using the handles of their swords, downing the two watchmen. A stack of crates and a good grip provided a quick and easy access back to the rafters.

A particular club-weilding goon stopped in front of a large container and surpassed his skills as hired muscle to read the label. "Chat-ee-ow... Row-man-ee. Oi, this stuff sounds expensive." He took his club, tossed his hand back, and let it fly into the container. Unfortunately for him, his hand became empty when thrusting it back, only having his unprepared fist hit the container. Tears welling up and a bellow in his throat, he immediately thrust his fist into his mouth and chewed on it to avoid shouting in pain, for it was a rule from Rash never to make loud noises. Once again unfortunate was the fact that he chewed on the same fist he had hurt, effectively piling the pain on. With all that to concentrate on, he could not sense the large block falling from the rafters and landing on his head, emitting a hollow thud - the hollowness not being provided by the block - and causing him to fall over down for the count.

This particular goon had been part of a foursome pack. The remaining three checked back for their missing partner in crime, but finding nothing. "Oi!" One of them called back to get some sound, but still nothing.

"You don't think there are ghosts in this cellar, do you?" One of the goons asked, wide-eyed.

"We're not in a cellar, y'idiot! This is a back room!"

"Oh... yeah." The first goon looked around. "D'you suppose the ghosts know that?"

The second goon made a mouth noise, "There are no--" A beam of moonlight was temporarily blocked out by a fast moving figure accompanied by a swift whoosh of air, "--ghosts?" The goon ended weakly.

The so far silent third goon backed up against a pair of barrels, lifting his torch and trying to illuminate anything ahead of him. He thought he was safe from behind, but two pairs of hands came from the space between the two barrels. He only could emit a short yelp before being pulled behind and silenced in a way that could only be left to the imagination.

That second goon whirled upon the pair of barrels and lunged onto it. He felt around but found nothing that would reveal what happened to his cohort. "Did you see what happened?" He asked to the highly superstitious first goon. He got no response for when he held out the torch, the first goon was no longer there. The remaining goon gasped and leapt forward where there were no walls. He looked around, constantly circling. "Where is everybody?" He called out and backed up. He bumped into something which was impossible since he was in a wide area. He whirled around yet again and saw Grasshopper, who's features were made ghastly by the play of shadows made by the torch.

"Boo." Grasshopper said.

The goon yelped and turned around to run. Van was on his other side and took no time in swiping what appeared to be a cane. The goon dodged quickly and turned to run in a third direction. A block fell from above and hit him on the head for the knock-out.

"What kind of cane _is_ this, anyway?" Van asked Grasshopper, looking it over for any tangible way it could have made blocks from nothing, excluding magic. It appeared magic was the only solution.

"No clue." Grasshopper shrugged, "It was in my bag and when I swiped it, it made blocks. Go figure."

Without warning, a shadow fell behind Van and an arm immobilized Van's and a sword was placed on his throat.

"Van!" Grasshopper called.

The person holding Van walked forward into moonlight to reveal Rash. "Do as I say or heads will roll. Literally." Rash smiled sinisterly, soaking in the moment. Grasshopper noticed Van had dropped the cane when he was grabbed. Grasshopper slowly reached for it until Rash siezed Van more firmly. "Don't think about it! I heard you talk about that cane. I don't believe in it myself, but I'm taking no chances, hear? Now get on the floor or Pretty-boy here get it!"

Grasshopper grinded his teeth at the ultimatum, but found no way out of it. He put his hands behind his back and sunk to the ground slowly.

"Good." Rash hissed, "Now, you be good and stay there while I wake up my men and proceed with my plan!"

"You won't see me move from this spot." Grasshopper muttered darkly.

Rash cackled, "That's a good stiff. Now, where's my gang?"

It took two seconds for Grasshopper to realize it wasn't rhetorical, "All over the place. You'll find them."

As Rash backed away with Van, Grasshopper shot Van a look that vowed a way out of this predicament. It really did take a long time to locate all of Rash's men. Grasshopper and Van had used every stealth trick they knew to cause a panic in the men and take them out one by one. Finally, Rash found the first two that had been downed and kicked them awake. No sooner had he done that that an eerie tune flowed through the air. Rash and his men, three of which were cowering from their ghosts, looked around for a source.

"The stiff!" Rash snarled and lead his men over to where he left Grasshopper. When they reached the spot, Grasshopper's figure stood there completely unmoving. "Stiff!" Rash called, "Hey, Stiff! Don't lie or Prince Charming is dead. Did you make those noises?"

"Yes." Grasshopper muttered, but the response hadn't come from the figure they all looked at. There was a ton of confused looking around on the part of the gang until a swift wind followed by an impacting sound shot through the air. Rash forewent his earlier rule of silence and howled out loud. An arrow was embedded in the arm he held his sword in, causing him to drop the weapon and have it clatter on the ground harmlessly. Van took the opportunity to place a backwards kick squarely to Rash's chest, causing the gang leader to stumble back.

Van faced the gang with his sword out and Grasshopper landed next to him, a sling full of arrows around his shoulder and a bow in his hand. Grasshopper shouldered the bow for his own sword. The pair of warriors faced the gang in a tense stare-down. Rash looked to pull the arrow out of his arm, but a flash of worry appeared on his face, afraid to touch the object stuck in his arm. His face contorted in a variety of ways until he shouted "Let's get out of here!"

Rash and his gang bolted out of the back room to heavy pursiut by Grasshopper and Van. Rash used his good arm to undo the sling that blockaded the door and shoved it open. He and his gang ran out the door, but did not get far before freezing in their tracks. Grasshopper and Van ran out to see what the hold-up was.

"Stay where you are! All of you!" Admiral Viscen shouted into the night. What appeared to be all of Clock Town's guard surrounded the milk bar with spears pointed out and more importantly Rash and his gang. Viscen added, "Grasshopper, uh, you and your freind are excluded from that, of course."

Grasshopper exhaled. "Of course. Thank you very much, Admiral." As the guard moved into detain Rash and the gang, Grasshopper asked, "How did you know to come?"

"That would be by my hand." Came a familiar voice from behind Viscen. Max walked out from behind Viscen, his blonde hair slightly mussed and dressed in a light blue robe more befitting of sleeping in.

"Max?" Grasshopper gawked, "You called the guard?"

Max cleared his throat and nodded, "Yes. I've heard enough about you from the winds of news and from Cremia to realize just when you were showing all the signs of going off to get yourself into more trouble. I must admit, your recent drought of misadventures had all of Termina concerned, but I'm sure this will rekindle all gossip, don't you think?"

Grasshopper laughed, more out of expression of relief that all the craziness was over more than anything else, "I was hoping not to be the object of gossip ever again, to be honest!"

Max laughed, which was more of a titter, until he saw Grasshopper had a cohort. "And who might you be."

"Name's Van." The blonde partner said, his voice a little hoarse from the stress of being a hostage.

"A pleasure, truly." Max shook Van's hand.

While they greeted, Viscen took Rash and his gang away to the jail. He stopped by Grasshopper, "Good catch, all three of you. These young hooligans are actually the infamous 'Rash Hash,' a group that never worked a day in their life and claimed society gave up on them when it is very much the opposite. They have been spotted causing trouble all over the land. Leave it to Grasshopper and all concerned to catch these thugs. Rest assured, they are going in the highest security jail we can find!"

The Rash Hash was lead away, thrashing and cursing the way over. "Good riddance! Hooligans!" Van called after, a little sore after Rash's actions against him. Max laughed in agreement.

Grasshopper gathered his pride and gulped it all down to walk over to Max. He got his attention, then spoke. "Listen... Max. You yourself said it, we really got off on a wrong foot. The chips were all stacked against you. You threatened to take Cremia out of my life, and she was one of the very first people I met after losing my memory. And then you're rich... I've had nothing but bad luck when it came to people in great wealth. But today, all of today, you have proven to be much more than just a guy with a lot of money. I can see you have heart and genuine care for those around you. I'm sorry for the cold shoulder in the past few days."

Max seemed stunned at this revelaton, but regained his composure. "That really means a lot to me that you can recognize that in me without being biased by my social status. I do not blame you one bit for your earlier misconceptions, but the fact that you were able to look past them really shows a lot of wisdom in you. It will take you far, that. Oh, and of course I forgive you. You make a very compelling argument and I hope that in time, if Cremia does move away with me, that you would be able to forgive me for doing so, because I know nothing can prepare a person for losing an integral part of their life."

The two young men shook hands. Grasshopper dismissed himself, saying "I want to check if everything is all right in there."

"I'll go with." Van spoke up.

Grasshopper and Van entered the milk bar and checked every detail to make sure nothing was harmed. The search came up empty, which was a good thing. Everything was accounted for and in one piece. They scoured the back room and saw the same thing.

"Grasshopper..." Van spoke with the intention of a question, "When you tricked Rash into seeing you where he left you... how did you do that?"

"Let me show you." Grasshopper grinned and bounded over to that spot, where his likeness still stood. He pat the likeness on the shoulder. "You did a lot of good, pal."

Van strained his eyes to look, "Who is that?"

Grasshopper flashed a wider grin with teeth, "Not who..." he brought the figure into the moonlight to reveal it as a statue, "But what!"

"What?" Van's visible eye widened in an almost comical fashion, "But... but _how_?"

"This, Van." Grasshopper took out the multitask. "I know a song called the 'Elegy of Emptiness.' It creates a statue of myself where I was standing when I played it."

Van seemed taken aback by the multitask, but for an unkown reason. He could be starting in awe at the magical instrument, or maybe questioning the logic in his mind. In a far-off corner of his eyes, one could even see... recognition. It faded quickly.

"Well," Van almost stammered to regain his cool aura, "that was some very quick thinking, no doubt. Grasshopper... you saved my life. I have never... ever owed anybody my life, so this is big for me. I hope that one day I can repay that favor."

Grasshopper smiled, "What are friends for?"

Van smiled back, "Yeah... friends."

-

Despite pleas to stay, Van had to bid Grasshopper and Max a farewell. Despite it being in the middle of the night, he insisted that he had to leave as soon as possible and had the means to do so. Grasshopper was left wondering if Van knew the Song of Soaring, too. Max lead Grasshopper to the carriage he used to ride over and they both rode back to the Romani Ranch. A bit fast, for the carriage had been "borrowed" from Cremia by Max.

It had hit Max before midnight what Grasshopper had been up to and he decided to act as fast as possible. Not bothering to change or tidy up, the aristocratic young man hopped out of the guest bed and hitched a ride on one of Cremia's carriages into town. He considered Butterfly for all of two seconds, but decided not to try and wake a sleeping horse and expect forgiveness based on a rapport that might not be there. Grasshopper had the feeling that from now on, Butterfly would take much kinder to Max.

As the two young men rode out of town, a window in the Stock Pot Inn opened. Nesira stuck her head out, having sensed violence in the air while she had been sleeping. She looked around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, and withdrew her green head back into the room, dismissing her senses as a false alarm.


	15. Ghosts of Lies

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 15: Ghosts of Lies**

Midnight to sunrise can come very quickly when one sleeps through it. That's how it felt for Grasshopper after his encounter with the hooligans that attempted to terrorize the Clock Town milk bar. To be completely honest, he didn't exactly carry that fight on his back. If his new friend Van hadn't been there, then he probably wouldn't have lived through the night. Granted, Van had been the one to incur the wrath of the hooligan group, but it was for the best that those delinquents had been put in their place in the long run.

Once again, the mostly self-dependent Grasshopper had somebody else to thank for the incarceration of that group. Maxamilian, the young man in Cremia's life, had taken it upon himself to call the guard on those kids. On one hand, it was great that Max had assisted in capturing the gang and established himself as a decent person, but it was that latter aspect that now troubled the protagonist teen. Before, he had assumed that Max was just some rich stiff unworthy of Cremia's affection, but now he could see no great flaw in Max's personality that he could base his contesting of his, Max's, relationship with Cremia off of.

The worst part about the situation was that Cremia was going to leave. Not just to Clock Town, but some far-off kingdom. It was safe to assume that Grasshopper wasn't going with when if and when the time came. First off, what would Grasshopper do with himself? The ranch would be owned by a new party, so he would have to move off. He'd have to rent a room in the Stock Pot Inn just like Nesira did. Added to that would be a new sense of monotony. The chores he did in the morning actually got him worked up for the rest of the day. What would he do then? Just get up, work on his hygiene for the day, and then just walk around town all day? Lastly, and perhaps most prevalent in his mind, Grasshopper thought about what life would be like without Romani's fawning over him, or the animals somehow recognizing him and happy to see him.

All right, enough beating around the bush. The biggest reason for not wanting Cremia to move away was Cremia herself. Romani had been the first human being he had ever seen, but once he had fully adjusted, Cremia was the first person that he had committed to memory, and what a sweet memory it had been. By the time he had seen her again, he had remembered his absolutely permanent memory, like the ways of life and decency, the latter of which he took to heart greatly in the times ahead, leading to his great sense of justice and drive to make things right in the world whenever they went wrong. Just how could he do without his inspiration? Not only was she his inspiration, but he felt something for her that he never felt with anybody else. Well… not really nobody else. There was…

A sudden sound of movement and sharp intake of breath shifted Grasshopper from his nighttime mind wanderings. It came from the next room over, Romani's room. Oddly enough, the voice coming from the room next was not female.

"You were tossing and turning… almost violently."

Romani's voice was a stuttering one for a little bit, "W-what are you doing here? Where's-?"

"I heard you… I couldn't sleep either."

Grasshopper finally placed the voice. It was Max. He was as much as peace with it as he could be, but then he thought about what Max said. He had heard Romani? But he was sleeping on the couch downstairs, how could he have heard Romani without anybody upstairs hearing her and dealing with the sounds first?

"Oh…" Romani's voice held the distinct sound of slight disappointment. She probably wanted any of the other two in the house, or both of them, to help her with her problem.

Max's voice sounded different, and not just because he tried to keep it low. There seemed to be something more sentient, feeling in that voice. "So, ah, what was the matter?"

There was a silence that followed that one could clearly tell, even without being able to see the scene, that Romani was refusing to say anything. She finally said, "Can't you wake up Sister… or Grasshopper?"

Max paused, then sighed and said, "Listen… I know that you don't want to hear this… but there may be a time when you won't have _every_body you know easily accessible. Now, you could go at it by making nothing of it and just keeping to yourself, or maybe you can do yourself a favor and not exactly come to peace with it… but at least try to make the most of it."

Romani seemed to need a moment to first understand what Max was saying, then to understand the real meaning behind his words. Romani began to shout, "YOU'RE-!" But she was quickly muffled.

"Shh!" Max hissed, "You don't want to wake your sister or Grasshopper like that, do you? … Look, I am not Grasshopper. I don't think any man can even equal a tremendous and dynamic persona like that; and I'm not looking to do so either. You can't just live in a rose-colored world forever. I know you're young to be told this, but sometimes you need to live in the real world to deal with what goes on here."

Only breathing was heard from the room for a long time. Grasshopper could not tell just what could have been going on in Romani's mind at those moments.

"Yeah." Romani finally muttered. "Sister says I'm very precocious."

"You really are." Max's voice was a bit tender, knowing the hostility was gone, "I can't believe some of the things you say and are able to fully comprehend at the same time. Although… Cremia said you liked to speak in the third person. I haven't even heard you say your own name, much less speak in the third person."

"Oh… I guess things happening kind of make me grow up faster than normal." "Things happening," Grasshopper assumed, were probably the adventures that she had either heard about or been a part of. Had he been the medium in which Romani's mind had developed to being wise beyond her years?

"I see." Max paused, probably to nod. "So… are you going to tell me what's wrong? Or maybe you'd rather tell your sister?"

The following silence was a long one. One didn't need to be an onlooker of the scene to realize that Romani was making a tough decision. Finally, after what felt like hours, Romani spoke.

"Okay."

Grasshopper, listening intently, cracked a sad smile. After so long of making great noise and resistance to Cremia's engagement, Romani had finally come to grips with the fact that Max may be a part of her life from now… and he, Grasshopper, much less so.

-

The morning held a tumult of a story. Cremia's eyes were held in a perpetual eye roll while Romani talked. Max listened to the encore of what he heard during the night, and Grasshopper pretended not to be interested so Cremia would not accuse him of encouraging her little sister. The fact was that he was listening very closely.

"The aliens!" Romani proclaimed for the umpteenth time, "They're coming back! Last time, the sun came up and that only made them run away. But this time, since it's been some years, one came to me in a dream and told me that they would come again to take our cows… and maybe more!"

Cremia sighed at seeing her sister worked up over something that seemed ridiculous in her perspective, "Now why would they give you a fair warning directly twenty-four hours before they're going to come?"

Romani gestured wildly with the fork she used to eat, "They want us to be prepared! They want us to expect them and give our best effort to ward them off! They told me it would make the revenge much sweeter since our 'green guardian' is gone!"

"'Green guardian?'" Cremia echoed.

"Grasshopper!" The little sister paused, "The, um, the other Grasshopper. Last time I got really scared and just shoved him out the door of our headquarters, staying sitting on that bale of hay. He didn't seem to mind, though. But now… I don't know where he is! He isn't here, I can tell you that."

Cremia chewed her lip, "I see."

"Grasshopper!" Romani suddenly spoke up. After nobody said anything, Romani tried again. "Grasshopper! … You! Right in front of me!"

"_Oh_!" The indicated young man started. He thought she was still speaking in terms of the other Grasshopper.

"You have to help me!" Romani looked at the same time both serious and seriously worried. "You can use a bow-and-arrow, right? You can help me when they come tonight!"

"Romani-!" Cremia began in a typical voice, but Max took her arm. She looked over to him.

"Cremia, if I may interject..?" Then after Cremia nodded, "I've spoken with your little sister. It seems that in most cases, she is smart enough to know when to be disillusioned. However, I can tell she just will not relent on this until it plays out for her. It's perhaps best to just let her be, like you must have done last time."

The older sister looked worried, but eventually cast her gaze down and slowly nodded. She wasn't going to be interrupting Romani's campaign any more any time soon.

"All right." Grasshopper leaned in to hear Romani better. "So, what have we got to do?

Romani beamed at the show of cooperation, and then prepared to deliver a speech long stored in her mind and recited to herself in times of nothing better to do.

-

There was quite a hefty load of planning for the alleged alien invasion. One such tool needed was a lot, and Romani meant a LOT of arrows. Because of that, Grasshopper had no choice but to fly into Clock Town and Cremia had no choice but to let him. Nearby the owl statue, the wings appeared, feathers flew into the wind, and Grasshopper was deposited onto the ground.

"Hmm…" Grasshopper thought upon arrival, "that was a particularly soft landing."

In response, a voice spoke up from beneath him, "That's because you're _standing on top of me!_"

"Eh?" Grasshopper looked down to see his descent having been broken by a tanned fleshy pad with green hair. "WHOA! Nesira! I'm sorry… really!"

Nesira picked herself up, refusing Grasshopper's hand, and brushed herself off. "No, no. My fault. I should know you like to fly in near this statue. That and I really should be more careful with my wording when I wish that you'd be on top of me some day."

Grasshopper had been looking around the town, so he hadn't heard. "Excuse me?"

"I, ah, said nothing." Nesira rolled her eyes as Grasshopper's obliviousness, but she supposed it was for the best he had heard that little snippet of thinking out loud. "All sudden stomping aside, what brings you here today? I notice you don't have a shipment of milk."

"Nope. Today I'm getting supplies for a, um, project." Grasshopper scratched the back of his head, still wondering just how he'd phrase the truth and not that white lie.

"What kind of project?" the half-gerudo folded her arms, indicating her interest

"Fighting…" The young man noticed Nesira perk at the word, "um… aliens."

Both of them froze in place as soon as the words were put out into the open. Nesira remained with her arms folded and shifting her weight on her left leg while Grasshopper stayed in his position last left from his gesturing. In that time, some wind passed through and several townspeople slowly walked by.

"Fighting… … aliens." Nesira repeated with an exaggerated pause. Grasshopper eventually nodded to that. "Aliens."

"It's for Romani, okay?" Grasshopper nearly blurted out after finally remembering just why he was making such absurd claims.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh, I get it now." Nesira nodded slowly, "Quite an imagination that kid has. Aliens! Really…"

The tunic clad teen of the two exhaled and scratched his opposite arm nervously. "Yeah. Normally we, Cremia and I, wouldn't buy into such illusions, but Romani is taking this one so seriously that we're forced to go along with it." He leaned against the owl statue so as to look casual and try to take what he was going to say next out of context. "She says they're weak to arrows."

"The aliens." Nesira said quickly.

"Yeah."

Words failed the both of them at the thought of continuing this conversation seriously. Nesira finally clapped her hands, "_Well_, good luck with your alien invasion. Make sure to tell me how Romani says it turns out."

"I'll make sure to do that." Grasshopper muttered, feeling the condescending tone of Nesira's voice drip all over him. He then said to himself, "What I do for those girls…"

-

The Song of Soaring later deposited Grasshopper outside the Romani Ranch. Unfortunately, the drop-off nature of the Song of Soaring made Grasshopper fall on his stomach due to the heavy load he had brought with him. The amount of arrows Romani requested was kind of obscene. Then again, it would have been a lesser amount had Max not volunteered to have a crossbow he owned back home delivered. His contacts were so efficient that he had that crossbow within a couple of hours.

Carrying the enlarged sling full of arrows like a stuffed messenger bag, Grasshopper half-limped to the Romani Ranch residence. Grunting and shifting his weight up the stairs and finally ending up at his room, he shoved the sling onto his bed for later having the contents removed and distributed. He leaned against a chair to rest and regain feeling in his shoulder. That is, until he heard talking coming from Cremia's room.

"… right, right. It is dreadful, just to leave the ranch in such a state. The hired help, I hear, is still quite good though. They'll take care of your father's ranch." Max's voice seemed full of regret.

Cremia's voice was filled with equal regret, "I hope so… because I just can't."

The word "can't" echoed in Grasshopper's mind for a couple of seconds when he came to a realization. He just all but emptied his wallet on a purchase based on a hunch of Romani's. This type of ludicrous thing is just what earmarked Grasshopper's day-to-day life. It can't all end for him. At least not like this. Finally filled with a sense of purpose, Grasshopper ignored all fatigue and numbness in his upper body and left his room. As if hovering, he made a beeline for Cremia's room and seemed to have an out-of-body experience as he saw his hand push open the slightly ajar door.

He was thrust back in his body when Cremia and Max both looked at him. Because of that, Grasshopper just stood there for a bit of time, rapidly trying to at least get into a state of mind where he can formulate words to say. Finally, some part of his mind transferred some words from his gut through his throat out his mouth.

"Cremia, this is madness."

The words came, but emotion seemed to lag behind. Therefore, his words came out in a passive monotone. Rather than fish for a response, he continued.

"Don't you realize just how much you are giving up on? Not only are you giving up on keeping the ownership of your ranch in your bloodline, but you're surrendering your way of life!" By now Grasshopper's mind was all there. He began to cross over to them.

"E-excuse me…" Max tried to interject, but fell short.

"How can you just toss everything your life has amounted to up 'till now and walk away?" Grasshopper gesture, "Just because Max says you could leave doesn't mean that you should! If you really cared for this place, I'm sure we could come up with a way to… to… raise funds! If you…"

"_Stop!_" Cremia finally shouted, that one word cutting right through Grasshopper's resolve. She hung her head. "Please. Just stop."

Grasshopper bore his teeth, "Why? Because I'm hitting the nail on the head so many times you're starting to feel it?"

A tense air hung that compressed around all in the room. The silence was an oddly unreadable one. The fact that nobody made to immediately say that claim was not true could only mean…

"You have it wrong." Cremia said gently but firmly, "Not all of it, but the most important part. Grasshopper, it was _my_ idea that I go back with Max."

Grasshopper had never been struck through the heart with an arrow before, but hearing those words from Cremia came pretty darn close.

"So…" Grasshopper's thoughts had been bumped from underneath and were all jumbled again, but this time he gathered them quicker, "So it's true, then? You… you really _are_ giving up. It's not just a setback, and not even a minor retreat. You are literally _giving up_ on the ranch!"

The truth had stung Cremia just as much as it had Grasshopper. She jerked her gaze away from Grasshopper so fast it almost looked like she had received a slap in the face. In light of what Grasshopper had said, she might as well have. "I have no choice. It is an uphill battle and the incline has become all but vertical for us. To continue like this, it would mean slower service, and soon our funds will be spread too thin and our products will be of poorer quality, lowering the prices even more. Eventually the entire ranch will have to be sold just to make ends meet for just Romani and I. I've faced it long ago, and you need to face it too, Grasshopper… It's over."

Grasshopper made a scoff, "I know you better than this. Do you know what they call you in Clock Town? The inversed Dodongo. A Dodongo has some of the toughest skin in all Termina, but on the inside they are soft, and a simple malicious force onto the insides of the Dodongo will kill it. You are called the inversed Dodongo because of the outside, you make like you are delicate, but on the inside, you are tougher than a Dodongo's skin. No, I'm starting to feel something ulterior to this arrangement… and you know how I am when I get that feeling. Think on that, Inversed Dodongo."

With those words carrying as much benevolence as they did malice, Grasshopper crossed back to the door way and closed the door on his way out. Either he thought Cremia and Max would need more privacy to speak, or he really needed a door to shut firmly at the moment.

Once Grasshopper had left, Cremia exhaled as if every cell in her body had been holding the same breath. Like a piece of paper caught in the wind, she half-tumbled into sitting on her bed.

"Cremia, are you quite all right?" Max asked, concerned.

"Yes, yes…" The crimson-haired young woman whispered back, the hastiness in her voice covered by the emotional fatigue. Never before had she heard anybody call her the 'Inversed Dodongo.' In fact, she had never heard such a thing in her entire life. Was she the only one to be called the inversed Dodongo? Did the people of Clock Town really hold her in such high regard? All these sentiments made a morbid dance around in her mind.

-

Grasshopper fled to the only nearby place that gave him peace of mind, the horse shed. There, he tended to Butterfly's food and groomed her. Butterfly almost wished Grasshopper was this stressed more often.

"Well, Girl," Grasshopper said after a silence, "Are you ready to go stomp some aliens?"

The precocious horse snorted in an imbalanced way, looking Grasshopper in the eyes.

Grasshopper laughed, "Oh come on, this makes it easier to pretend I believe Romani when I have actual enthusiasm."

Butterfly rolled her eyes.

Because his horse usually alerted him when a person entered, Grasshopper nearly jumped when Romani tugged his tunic.

"WHOA! Oh, I, uh, mean, why hello there Romani! What's up?" The startled teen picked the horse brush off his head. It had fallen with the bristles up.

Romani looked up slowly, "Grasshopper… do you hate Sister?"

"What?" Grasshopper yelped at that question, in all honesty he answered, "Of course not. We may be at odd ends, but I would never hate your sister."

"Oh." Romani said, "Sister said the same thing."

As the girl left, Grasshopper registered her words. Cremia had said the same thing? She doesn't hate him? Surely, after that speech he gave she would at least be harboring enough spite to say she hated him to Romani's face? Or maybe Romani asked Cremia before the spat. It was most likely the former, since Romani probably asked the question to Cremia a little bit earlier. So, Cremia does not hate him? That most certainly was good news. Could there, in fact, be the distinct possibility that he may feel comfortable around her ever again? Time could only tell.

-

Once the sun was halfway embedded into the mountains and slowly falling, Romani called a meeting of all in the ranch. This included herself, Cremia, Grasshopper, and Max. She told the latter two to bring their arrows and respective means of launching them. Cremia didn't have to come, but the older sister insisted that there were to be as many witnesses to this event, or a lack thereof.

"Okay!" Romani picked up and placed on her head a pot for a helmet, "Once the time is right, the aliens will come out at full force! And I mean once every clock from here to Clock Town hits the right time! From what I remember of when the aliens first came, they appeared here… here… here…" She repeatedly whacked a rod against her own drawing of a birds-eye view of the Ranch that would actually get an approving nod from Tingle.

The other three were seated like troops to a briefing, almost genuine in their obedience to the little girl in front of them, hands folded and neatly in their laps.

"Sure gets into this stuff, doesn't she?" Max muttered aside to Grasshopper.

"She has a flair for taking things too seriously." The other young man responded.

The rod came down on the floor hard, "Would you like to share what you're talking about to the rest of us?" Romani demanded harshly.

"No ma'am." The two young men immediately hushed.

The 'briefing' continued as such. Cremia didn't know whether to be amazed or embarrassed that her kid sister could devote so much time and effort and make everything so authentic and professional. Romani continued to discuss the details like how every alien tended to move (toward the barn, as was inferred) and how to launch arrows so as to trick them out. A rough path was carved out that would keep the aliens at bay until the sun rose.

The time seemed to come faster than a Goron racer across a line of ice. Time seemed to slow down as the slated time approached. Cremia had to fix some hot drinks to keep everybody besides her little sister awake.

"I do think that even the aliens are aware of the unsightly hour." Max yawned, "I almost hope they _do_ show up, just so I have something to show for being up this late."

Grasshopper emitted a snorting chuckle, "Always down by bedtime?"

Max could smell the patronizing, but put it aside as friendly, "Yes, yes, as a matter of fact. I've only been here for so long and twice I've betrayed that. You do this type of thing all the time?"

"Yeah." Grasshopper looked off at nothing in particular, "Things died down for a year, but as of late it's business as usual."

Max had a feeling 'things' meant much more than just the daily events.

"It's almost time!" Romani called with no warning. Everybody hopped up at least a foot. "Okay, okay, everybody with arrows, we have to get outside! They won't wait for us, so we'll have to do the waiting!"

Grasshopper, closest to the door, opened it up and allowed Max to walk through before he crossed into the night, which had probably transitioned into very early morning by now.

"So-?" Grasshopper began to ask, but he was cut off.

"_It's them they're coming!_" Romani half-shrieked and slammed the door while still on the other side from the other two.

Max raised an eyebrow, "Don't want to slip into my stereotype, but that was quite rude."

Grasshopper sighed, "What now?"

As if on cue, a rustling was heard from out in the field as well as some weight falls that made soft thuds mixed with rustling of their own.

Max and Grasshopper stood perfectly still, their skepticism melting away fast. The former looked to the side, "You, ah, you put away all the cows before completely closing up, right?"

Grasshopper merely nodded, "Yes."

Max wet his lips nervously, "Butterfly is in her pen?"

Grasshopper's eyes twitched to the other, "You saw her."

"Then-?" Before Max could ask his question, the answer came. From several locations across the ranch, ranging from far out in the field to next to the backside of the barn, came bursts of light that ended with light that looked like puffs of smoke. In place of the bursts stood terrible creatures.

Their exterior look was not unlike that of the poes found in the desert. They had the same basic silhouette and held similar lanterns, but to look at one of these creatures up close would reveal something different. Rather than a pair of glowing yellow half-circles for eyes, these creatures looked as if they wore a mask of the front of a skull with a long bridge between the nose and teeth. The rest of their figure was hidden beneath a cloak except for a single scrawny arm used to hold up the lantern.

Grasshopper and Max stood in awe at this sight, stunned at that this whole time, first of all, that Romani was right, and second of all, that there was now an army of aliens approaching the barn.

Grasshopper himself was far from taking it in stride, but once the shock was over, he held up his bow, "I guess we're reaping what we sow by not believing in Romani in the first place. As insane as this may seem, it's happening. How are you holding up, Max?"

"I, ah, I, it's…" The image of the aliens tearing into the barn invaded his head and the aristocrat shook his head, "R-right, then! It's… it's no trouble at all!"

The former lad couldn't help but grin at how much Max looked out of his element at that moment. The fact he didn't just outright dash back into the barn said that he was making an honest effort to go through with everything Romani had expected. Thinking of Romani brought Grasshopper back to the briefing, and he remembered something startling. Unceremoniously, he dashed behind the barn where two aliens approached the said building. Faster than he ever could without an adrenaline rush, he let fly an arrow, reloaded without another thought, and shot another arrow. Both hit their marks, disappearing into the cloaks, but hitting something since the aliens shrieked in pain and evaporated. "So they _are_ weak to arrows! … Not that I doubted Romani any on that part."

"If that's the case…" Max called over the chattering of the aliens. He pulled back a safety lever on his crossbow and aimed. Once he saw the line of aliens approaching, he held down on a trigger and arrow after arrow flew. The wealthy young man would have looked a lot cooler, if his screaming hadn't been frantic and high-pitched with the occasional break. Every arrow sunk into an alien and the field looked like it had been previously on fire in short order.

Grasshopper laid witness to this display and felt his jaw drop almost to the ground. "Holy crap!" The words forced themselves out his throat, "Where do I get myself one of those?"

Max's frame chattered as he turned back, but he still held a smile that was amazed at himself, "Specially made, I'm afraid. I'll make sure to send one over as soon as possible."

Normally, anything that signified how Max was going to leave eventually, and consequently Cremia as well, would strike a chord in Grasshopper, but at that moment, knowing that at least Cremia was going to be with somebody like Max, for the first time, gave him an at-peace feeling. After all, she could have done worse.

Meanwhile, back in the barn, Cremia wondered what was going on outside. She gently parted some curtains to look outside and was taken back even more than Max had at the sight she saw: The aliens and the young men combating them. She whirled around to convey her deepest apologies, not only to not believing her then, but to not believing her, Romani, for so long previously. Romani, however, had her back shoved to the door and sunk onto her rear, hanging her head lower than Cremia had ever seen her. It looked as if it wasn't the first time Romani had hung her head that low. At least one time before...

"It's true, then?" Cremia said softly, "Everything? The aliens had come once before… and that boy Link… he had saved us all! Oh, Romani, I'm so sorry for not believing you! Then… and now!"

Romani sniffed, "I know nobody believed me. I just thought if everybody was prepared, we could do it. You all believing me didn't have to be a part of it. I knew you would believe once it actually happened."

Cremia looked around, "Well, it worked! The boys have all the arrows we need! Why aren't you out there with them?"

"Because," the little sister sniffed again, "I'm scared. Don't you remember, when with the other Grasshopper, I shoved him out the door and just stayed here? I was just… like… this."

The older sister placed a hand on her heart gently. She could imagine Romani spending a whole night just sitting there, in front of the door, ashamed that she didn't have the courage to go out and help. "I see." She merely responded.

Romani looked up, "Well? Don't you hate me? I'm just letting Grasshopper and Max do this by themselves! I thought you would have yelled at me by now!"

"What?" Cremia was earnestly surprised, "Why?"

"I don't know… maybe because after all this time, after being so fearless and commanding, it just turns out I have a spine like a Chuchu…"

"What?" Cremia repeated, then took her sister by the arm, "Romani, you have shown more resolve and courage than anybody else here! You had that dream, and rather than do what I or anybody else had done, you took that dream to heart and acted upon it! You got all of us to reluctantly go along with something we didn't even believe in and now we are as prepared as we can be! Romani, you are the hero here, and I am very proud of you for that."

A silence followed for Romani to process all those words. At once, the tears stopped streaming from Romani's eyes and she slowly looked up to her sister again, surprised that she did not just scold like always. Her lip trembled with a new, better reason and she launched herself into her sisters arms, "Sister!"

"Oh!" Cremia hadn't expected the sudden hug, but knew it was only good, "Romani…"

-

The fight against the aliens had been a downhill one from the start. They came, but Grasshopper shot them down as soon as they came out and if they ever piled up, Max unleashed a flurry of arrow to bring them down. "… And stay down!" He shouted to the smoke one time, adding, "Bastards."

After letting another arrow fly, Grasshopper laughed, "It looks like somebody is really getting into this!"

"It's your vitality!" Max gasped over his fatigue and excitement, "It's infectious!"

The brunette of the two pulled up the right corner of his mouth and nodded to Max. He then looked out, "Well? Are there any more?"

Max walked next to him and looked out as well, not seeing heads or tails of an alien. He squinted, "Oh, yes. One right down there. The bugger's not moving, though."

"I'll see about that." Grasshopper began to descend to the middle of the field, "Max. Stay behind and make sure that some aliens don't come from behind in case this is a distraction."

"Right." Max said and backed up to the barn, "Be careful, Grasshopper."

Grasshopper paused and moved his eyes back, "I'm usually not."

The alien in the field stayed in the same place, unmoving, even as Grasshopper ran over. He slowed to a walk as he approached the alien, eventually stopping to look. This alien was different. It's cloak still covered most of its body, but this cloak had crimson decorations on it in a language that Grasshopper could not understand. He thought back to when he had been in Cape Zora and saw the notes that Japas kept from a "green clothed kid." If he had those, he could have determined if they were the same. Besides the decorations, Grasshopper also noticed that the skull mask was bigger, longer, and was damaged, or at least missing teeth and chipped an innumerous amount of times. This alien also held both unhealthy-thin arms out, the second clutching a nondescript staff that looked almost like it was a branch ripped off a tree. To look at it at first sight, one would consider it to be a leader since it was so different.

That alien even stayed in place while Grasshopper raised his bow to it. For whatever reason it did not move, it was to his advantage. As if Grasshopper's moving enabled it, the alien moved as well, raising his staff into the air. For a bit, nothing happened. Just as Grasshopper thought about letting his arrow fly, something happened. A whole series of aliens burst into existence behind the alleged leader. Grasshopper stumbled backwards at this sight, but none of them advanced. Rather, they began to converge onto one spot.

One alien merged with another, and that combination merged with another, and the aliens kept on merging together, causing the larger to ever grow. Grasshopper knew right away that he was going to need some help, so he pounded the ground over to the barn where Max rounded about and reported that no more aliens were appearing, before he gaped at the large alien in the field. The lead alien looked to his large servant, then back to the barn, and shoved his staff forward, making the giant alien begin to advance.

"How do we combat _that_?" Gasped Max. The aristocrat already felt tired from the barrage of regular aliens he had slain.

Grasshopper sighed, "It's got to have a weak point somewhere. Let's find it."

As Grasshopper moved toward the field, Max stood astounded at the other young man's resolve. "All… all right, then. You lead."

Both defenders of the ranch ran forward toward the large alien until they felt close enough, and far enough from the barn. The gargantuan alien hovered forward, looming over anything that dared stand before it. It looked down at the two infinitesimally small people below it and gave a chuckle. It held its equally enlarged lantern forward and the latch popped off, revealing a large gem inside.

"There!" Grasshopper swung a finger toward the exposed gem, "I'm willing to wager that the thing up there has some importance!"

That gem began to glow, then steam, and just outright burst into flame. Not knowing what would happen next, the two young men just stood their ground. They immediately regretted it, however, as the flame from the gem seemed to leap off the said gem and fell toward Grasshopper and Max with the force of an arrow. Both had little time to react before the flame fell before them and amassed an explosion big enough to toss them off their feet and fall back to the ground with nothing to break their fall but blades of grass.

"Should have… seen that… coming." Grasshopper grumbled before the pain registered fully and pulled him and Max both out of consciousness.

The large alien once again emitted a chuckle and decided that those two specs of dust he just brushed off were no longer worth any trouble. He soundlessly shifted forward, past Grasshopper and Max, over to the barn.

Inside that barn, Cremia and Romani looked through the parted curtain at the incoming alien.

"Where are they?" Cremia demanded about Grasshopper and Max, "_Where are they_?"

"I can't see them!" Romani called out, working her eyes to painful limits, "Ever since he shot that fireball!"

Cremia gasped, "They can't be…!"

"No!" The smaller sister broke the thought to pieces, "Grasshopper can't go like that! And he wouldn't let Max go like that either! They're out there… they just…"

"They need help, Romani." Cremia said simply, a call to action woven in those words.

Romani gulped, "I… I… have to help?"

Cremia quickly nodded, "Yes, you've thrust your head under the guillotine more than once before, this shouldn't be any different!"

"O… okay…" Romani gulped again, then furrowed her brow outside, "Wait… where's the big one?"

"Big one?" Cremia echoed and looked out. He was nowhere to be seen. "He can't have just dis- AAAHHH!"

"Sister?" Romani whirled around and saw comparatively thin arm of the large alien seem to phase through the roof of the barn and clutch Cremia, slowly pulling her back up to the roof. "SISTER!" She should have expected them to be _ghost_ aliens.

From an outside view, it would appear that the large alien had its hand stuck in the barn. A couple of tugs lead to a full-on pull that crashed Cremia through the roof of the barn.

"Ow!" Cremia shouted over the wreckage, and then looked down at it. "You… you're going to pay to fix that!" She threatened idly. It had obviously no effect as the alien shoved her into the lantern, probably to keep her from talking further.

The alien leaned over the hole he made in the roof and peered in on the contents of the barn. He saw only cows. Romani had dashed under a bale of hay when she saw the alien was about to look in. The alien moved to reach in for a cow until an arrow had hit him in the back. The alien grunted in discomfort and looked to see Grasshopper standing again.

"You're not taking anything else, and what you do have, you will drop _right now_!" Grasshopper gasped a bit at the leftover fatigue.

The alien held his lantern to his face (or at least the mask) and looked at Cremia inside. He laughed in mockery of Grasshopper and thrust the lantern toward Grasshopper, opening the latch. He, Grashopper, took no time in taking out his bow to attack the gem. As the arrow flew, the gem seemed to move by itself, circling around Cremia and shoving the young woman into the path of the arrow. Cremia yelped and moved her head, letting the arrow careen past and hit the back of the lantern, not even grazing the gem.

"Dammit!" Grasshopper hissed, "This can't be!"

Once again chuckling at Grasshopper's expense, the large alien withdrew the lantern a little bit. The green-clad teen wondered what the large alien was up to and didn't realize in time before the lead alien had hovered to him and given him a whack to the side, sending him to the ground. That hit seemed to be more of a nuisance than anything else. Grasshopper shook his head and gave a "what's your problem?" look to the lead alien. Grasshopper looked back to the large alien and noticed the gem glowing, and Cremia being gravitated against it.

"Oh…" Cremia sighed, "Getting hot in here!"

Grasshopper gasped, the alien was about to shoot another fire ball, and that would put the gem on fire, and Cremia is attached to it! Grasshopper tried once again to fire an arrow, but as the arrow flew, the alien leader smacked it down, laughing at Grasshopper afterward.

"CREMIA!" Grasshopper shouted after his attempt failed.

After Grasshopper's shout, a new sound pierced the air, the sound of shattering. All looked to the lantern, more specifically the gem within. Right next to Cremia, an arrow was deeply embedded in the gem. The cracks from the arrow spread until the entire thing was cracked up and collapsed to dust. Cremia stumbled forward and fanned herself until she was back to the normal cool night temperature.

Grasshopper saw the angle of the arrow and looked where the arrow most likely came from. He smiled to see Romani on the roof of the barn, holding her bow out like she just shot the arrow, surprised that she had the courage to do it, and was actually able to make the shot.

The moment collapsed like the gem as the alien shrieked in the pain of being unable to hold itself together. Part of it broke off into a regularly-sized alien, which fell to the ground and burst into smoke. More aliens broke off and disintegrated rapidly. Grasshopper came to a horrid realization, if the alien is disappearing, Cremia wouldn't be lowered to the ground softly, would she? He rushed forward until near where Cremia would fall, and then came to face the alien leader.

"_You… meddlesome fools. You have… destroyed us! I will not go… without one final… spite_." After that last word, the alien leader cackled eerily.

The lantern degenerated into smoke, giving Cremia no foothold. She gave the obligatory shout as she fell.

"Don't worry!" Grasshopper called as he rushed forward to intercept Cremia, hands out.

At the same time, the alien leader began his own rush. As he hovered forward, he pulled his staff apart and took off the top, revealing a blade. Grasshopper did not notice.

Cremia descended to the ground, but not before she fell into Grasshopper's arms. The alien leader rushed past Grasshopper and stopped, two arrows embedded in him. One in the mask, one to the side. Romani and Max lowered their bows as they saw the last of the aliens vanish.

-

Max helped Romani to the ground and they both ran to where Grasshopper and Cremia were.

"We did it! We did it!" Romani cheered loudly as the figure of Grasshopper drew closer, but did not move.

"Cat got your tongue, chap?" Max gasped merrily, but it faded when Grasshopper shuddered and fell onto his side.

Cremia moaned and rubbed her head, then looked at the fallen Grasshopper and gasped. "_GRASSHOPPER_!" She kneeled to his side and shook him, "Grasshopper, Grasshopper!" She looked on him and saw what had happened; a very deep, open gash ripped itself across Grasshopper's abdomen and bled like it was the destination of every vein in his body.

"Bloody hell…" Max half-whimpered.

"_NO_!" Cremia shrieked, "Grasshopper, NO! It can't end like this, not on these terms! There's so much that had to be said and I thought there was so much time in which it could be said!" She rapidly gasped and pulled Grasshopper's head onto her lap, "Grasshopper, you now know that the ranch is deeply under funded. Hell, if Max hadn't shown up, we would have packed up and left by now! I'm sorry, but at the time, the ranch was the most important thing to me! I was willing to do _anything_ to keep it from going under! I even resorted to marrying myself off so the ranch could be cared for. But before I could do that… Before… I could… do… that…"

She looked up at Romani and Max, her face wrecked and more tears than flesh. Romani was also crying, but listening intently. Max gave Cremia a scrutinizing stare, but then softly closed his eyes and nodded. Cremia gulped and looked back to Grasshopper.

"Before I could do that… I had to _stop loving you_!" She gave a frail sigh like she had lifted a whole house across Termina and just now put it down, "That's right… I felt so strongly for you that I couldn't bear to even look at another man with intent of marriage! Oh, Grasshopper, I never hated you! I used that one night a year ago as an excuse to make you _believe_ I hated you! Maybe if you gave up on me, I would in time learn to let you go! I'm so sorry, I'm _so sorry_! I can't bring myself to put on this façade any longer!"

She heard footfalls from in front of her and looked up to see Max, his face too high up to be seen clearly.

"Max…" Cremia gulped, "I'm sorry to you, too. I liked you, I really did… but I never…"

"It's quite all right." Max said, and licked his lips. He took a ring out of his pocket, looked at it, and then held it in a fist before putting it back in his pocket. "I think it's time for me to go. You obviously have a lot to work out. I'll be gone within the half-hour. I'll, ah, I'll leave my medical kit here. It's a nasty wound, but I am absolutely certain that you can patch it up and stop the bleeding and keep his body from dying if you use everything in there." He looked to Romani and placed a hand on her head, "I'll see you around, Romani. You are way beyond your years and that makes you special. I hope you never stop learning and that you only become stronger both mentally and physically as time progresses. Cremia, bless your selfless heart. I do not blame you a bit for what you did. I'm sure everything will work out. And Grasshopper… You are a true friend and a bigger man than anybody else in this damned land. Never change; for yourself, for Cremia, for Romani, and for Termina."

With that, Max turned and entered the house to gather his things. Time later, he slung his belongings, minus his medical kit, into his carriage, and rode out of the Romani Ranch. Both Cremia and Romani watched him go. Maxamilian gave one final nod to the three occupants of the Romani Ranch before slightly whipping his reign and passing through the gates to the narrow road ahead.

-

As soon as possible, Cremia and Romani carried Grasshopper into the house and laid him out onto the dinner table. Nobody cared about proper use of the table. Romani raced up to where Max had stayed and easily found the medical kit amongst the barren space where Max's stuff used to be.

Carefully working off of instructions in the book, Cremia and Romani had removed Grasshopper's tunic, picked any fabric that got stuck in the wound, and followed instructions to clean up the wound and then wrap it up. They both hoped that the cleaning process would pain Grasshopper enough to wake him up, but he didn't so much as move throughout the entire process. After what felt like hours, Grasshopper was on the couch, fully patched up and on the road to recovery. The only thing that was missing from the recovery was Grasshopper waking up.

Both sisters waited for hours, trying methods like cold water and even trying to prod his wound, just so he could wake up, but Grasshopper showed no signs of waking up. Several times Cremia insisted that Romani should get some sleep, but Romani was absolutely adamant in staying up for when Grasshopper woke up.

They had both almost surrendered to sleep when the creaking of the door closing woke them both up. Had Max returned? They both looked over at the door, and saw a silhouette that was not Max's. This one has long hair. The silhouette walked closer.

"Who are you?" Cremia demanded of the silhouette. The silhouette walked into light. Cremia squinted. "Wait a moment… I think I was described somebody like you… You're that Van person from the Milk Bar!"

Van looked at Grasshopper and rubbed his wrists like they were in pain, but quickly stopped gritting his teeth and rubbing his wrists. "Correct." He merely said, then felt the patched-up wound on Grasshopper. "A valiant effort, putting on bandages and stopping the bleeding… but I think the real problem requires much more work… Much more."

The faces of the two sisters flushed as they looked at Grasshopper again and wondered just what could still be wrong with him.


	16. Karma

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 16: Karma**

_Never relenting._

_It was an apt way to put these kinds of visions. No matter how many times Grasshopper had done something wrong, he had always done something right to make up for it, or had done something of good nature that was more of a match to the bad thing._

_Just what had Cremia done for him? She had given him a home when he had nothing. But other than that, which seemed almost obligatory, what had she _really_ done for him?_

_Pretended to hate him. All but shunned him when she really didn't feel she had anything against him. And for what? Just for the ranch? Was the loss of Grasshopper really worth a PRESERVATION?_

_Romani's wounds on the day that the ReDeads invaded was pure soothing compared to what had been inflicted on to Grasshopper. In fact, not all is known about it._

_These images flashed in a chaotic manner with no theme to them with never relenting, all through the night._

-

Cremia awoke the next morning in a rare form, very slowly. She had clutched the blanket to her bed so tightly that a big wad was starting, making the blanket cover her less. She gently spread the blanket out again and smoothed it from her lying down position. It felt like her entire body was drenched in sweat and anything in contact with her was plastered down from the moisture.

She never had a dream like that before, almost like a reminder from her mind's eye. Once she was awake enough to realize that she was in reality, she came to a realization, and it had something to do with the reason for her dream. Romani didn't need to be awoken from her sleep, so Cremia did not consider her sister when flying down the stairs to the ground floor of the house.

If not for Van, the young man that Grasshopper knew from the milk bar, Cremia would never have gone to sleep in the first place. Van had told the sisters that he knew just what Grasshopper was suffering from, but he would not tell them or help out until they got some sleep. Normally, Cremia would have refused violently, but the previous night's/this morning's events had lasted so long and caused so much fatigue that it took all of Cremia's will to climb up those stairs to get to bed. Now it was the afternoon and Cremia felt stressed, but still well-rested.

The elder sister landed on the floor at last and looked at the couch that Grasshopper had been left on. Grasshopper looked in exactly the same way he had been when Cremia last saw him, probably down to the position he was in. Directly in front of Grasshopper, Van had pulled up a chair and sat as a sentry for Grasshopper. Not the best, as he seemed to be sleeping on the job. Once Cremia approached, the sounds of her footfalls jarred him awake almost gracefully.

"Un?" He murmured unintelligibly, then he shook his head slightly, and got up, "Oh, yes… Ah…" Van snapped to reality quickly, but for some reason he was still stammering. He quickly shook his head, this time with a little bit of embarrassment, then quickly composed himself, "Have a good sleep?"

Cremia exhaled, "It… did the job. In the back of my mind, I was still worrying about how nothing was getting done on the ranch. As if we need to lose any more profit…"

Van once again seemed somewhere else while looking at Cremia, but seemed to gather his thoughts well enough, "No worries, then. Your hired help arrived not too long ago."

"Hired help?" The young woman echoed, and then walked over to the door. Out in the field, the cows were already out and many strapping men were tending to them, not to mention at work in the other facilities in the ranch. Cremia opened her mouth to question, but then realized, "Max…" Thank you, Cremia thought. Despite her otherwise using him, he still opened his heart and his wallet to her cause. She smiled at the show of friendly generosity and slowly turned around. When she saw Van, she saw his head snap up from its previous position, the line of sight pointing right at her rear. She placed her hands on her hips, "Okay, just _what_ is wrong with you?"

"Erm…" Van cleared his throat some times, "It's just that… is that normally… how you dress… to sleep?" By the time he got that out, his face had gotten as red as a sun in twilight.

"Excuse me?" Cremia inquired, and then looked down. The profuse sweating she had endured through her sleep had reduced her night wear (yes, she was not too tired previously to overlook proper sleeping measures) to naught more than a second pair of skin. The soggy fabric clung to her tightly and outlined every curve of her body, especially the frontal curves, which could easily pass as having no clothing over them at all. Cremia made a high-pitched yelp and quickly grabbed the fabric and pulled it out, allowing it to drape like it normally does. "_Why didn't you tell me?_" she demanded with a furious blush.

"Actually, I, ah, did." Van muttered, gently rubbing under his nose.

The young woman folded her arms over her chest, more out of covering herself up, "So you did."

They both suffered through a very awkward silence in which they looked everywhere but where the other was currently looking. Van got an idea to dispel this silence when his eyes fell on Grasshopper.

"So!" He clapped his hands together, "I'm sure you want to know what is troubling Grasshopper as soon as possible?"

"Yes!" Cremia gasped; equally relived a change of subject had been found. At the same time, she renewed her worry for Grasshopper.

Now that the moment had passed, Van was back to being collected, "Okay, first of all, this is a fantastic job patching him up. I come from an army, and I still haven't seen wound treatment this good." He paused. For some reason complimenting Cremia was addicting, "Well, to avoid going on a tangent, there is another 'patching' you need to do… and it does not involve conventional bandages and disinfecting utilities. I have fashioned these from a Lens of Truth."

Van reached into a pocket and took out a pair of glasses. Cremia gingerly took the glasses and felt a little silly in putting them on. Once she did, however, she was no longer concerned with how she looked.

Cremia saw the wound on Grasshopper as if there were no bandages over it. Rather than blood falling from it, she saw what looked to be a very thin wisp of smoke coming from it and continuing to float up into the ceiling and probably beyond. She lowered the glasses, saw Grasshopper with the bandaging. She looked through the glasses again, and saw the wound like nothing had been done to help it.

"What… what is that?" She passively demanded.

"It was as I thought." Van picked the glasses from Cremia's face and put them on himself to take another look, "I was able to survey the scene that unfolded after getting a feeling that something really bad was happening. After getting all my facts right, I knew it right away. You saw when Grasshopper got the wound, right?"

"Yes." How could she forget?

Van nodded, "Right. That apparition used its own fashioned weapon. See, it's not fully known what those things are, but they're recorded in the ancient bestiaries of where I come from. There are recorded incidences, so I know what you're up against. See, these creatures exist on two 'planes.' There is the physical, and spiritual. This is why those creatures bear resemblance to ghostly figures. Everything they do concerns both the physical and spiritual plane. We, being mostly physical creatures, only can modify the physical plane…"

"… But we cannot notice or alter the spiritual plane despite the fact we still exist in it!" Cremia finished, almost excited at having figured it out herself.

"Um… right!" Van blinked a couple of times, "You're pretty sharp!"

"Oh… thank you!" Cremia beamed, "I thought it was obvious, but if you say so."

Van started to grin, but decided to stay on task, "So, Grasshopper was hurt by the creature, meaning he was hurt both on the physical and spiritual plane. You can heal him all up physically, but I'm afraid he's still 'bleeding' on his spiritual side. To put it simply, he's bleeding his soul."

"Oh my…" Cremia gasped, "And he won't be better until all of it is returned?"

"Yes." Van pocketed his special glasses, "Any loss of one's soul will cause them to be incomplete, and unable to wake up. He is losing his soul at a very slow pace, but he still has a loss. He'll need all of it back to recover." He paused and looked behind, "Now, if you're going to be listening in, you might as well be a part of this."

Cremia looked in the same direction, wondering who Van was talking to, until Romani made herself known, descending the stairs and joining the scene.

"How much did you hear?" The older sister asked apprehensively.

"Enough." Romani spoke up, "This can't happen!"

Van folded his arms, "Well spoken. It will elate you both to know that there is a way to completely reverse everything. Well, Grasshopper may have a scar across his left side for the rest of his life, but I hear the women go wild for something like that."

The two sisters showed signs of impatience while looking at Van as he paused for any reaction on his attempt at humor. Eventually both girls just shouted, "_Get on with it, will you?_"

"Hum," Van grunted, "first, we will need to stop the 'bleeding.' I know that no matter in which… um… _area_ of the world I am in, I will be able to find the means necessary. We will need to find a Soul Patch."

"Uh-huh… Soul Patch." Both sisters confirmed in unison, nodding at the same time as well.

"Second, with no chance of any more of his soul escaping, we will retrieve the rest using what is called the Soul Lantern."

"Got it!" Cremia trumpeted.

"Soul Lantern!" Romani called out.

After a pause, the sisters calmed themselves and Cremia asked, "So… how do we get these?"

"About that…" Van began. He inhaled slowly, causing the sisters to lean forward expectantly. "I'm not sure." The sisters nearly fell forward from the anti-climax. "But I have leads!" he declared and morale boosted back up.

"Good enough for me!" Romani chirped.

Van chewed his lip, "Actually, not so much for you."

The little girl slumped, "Why?"

"Because getting the Soul Patch and the Soul Lantern is not easy business. In fact, it can be quite perilous." Van gently rubbed the top of Romani's head in condolence, "This is because the Soul Patch is a very benevolent tool for healing, and it is related to herbivorous cures, it is most likely to be found in a forest or woods." Van crossed the room and picked down some supplies from cabinets, "The Soul Lantern deals with the soul and the spiritual world, a place nearly devoid of any physical life. With that connection, we need to find a desert. In each location, we will find a stronghold – dungeon, if you will – where a major ingredient to the Soul Patch will be found and the Soul Lantern itself will be found, respectively. From there, we do what is necessary to keep Grasshopper's soul intact, and then repair it fully."

"That's why you aren't going." Cremia lectured to her sister, "These are probably the biggest dangers we'd get ourselves into if we went. I want to go… I need to go. It was my fault that Grasshopper ended up like this."

Romani opened her mouth to protest, but ended up biting her tongue. She had her way most often, but she knew that if Cremia dedicated

Van looked to Cremia, "I'm not even sure _you_ should be going."

"I'm going!" the determined young woman snapped back.

The blonde one reeled back, "All… all right, on the condition that I teach you how to properly use a weapon. We have plenty of time, Grasshopper's not going to lose all of his soul in one day. Sure, he won't be flattered we took our sweet time, but he's not able to argue, is he? You know, Cremia, you sure look soft on the outside, but you're as strong as stone deep down!"

That struck a chord in Cremia, "Like an inversed Dodongo…" She muttered softly.

Van noticed Cremia's darker tone and realized it must have been something Grasshopper had said. Van nodded, "Yes. Well, one thing is for sure, you cannot go as you are. By that, I mean you cannot possibly expect to expertly navigate dungeons with only your knowledge of taking care of this ranch. Granted, you did a fantastic job."

"What do you suggest?" Cremia folded her arms.

Van looked Cremia up and down, noting her humble and homely attire, "A change of wardrobe will be needed… And a little bit of combat training will do you a world of good."

-

While Cremia retreated to her room for a change of clothes, Van volunteered to level some trees in the neglected back regions of the Romani Ranch to serve as weapon training material. He carried a pile of logs back out to the large grazing fields for when Cremia makes her appearance. He impatiently tapped on a log after a while, prompting a line of insects to leave through a knothole. Romani shrieked and began stomping into the grass.

The door to the residence shut and Cremia descended the field to where Van had everything set up. "Okay, will this do?"

Van and Romani looked up, almost thinking they were beholding a completely new person. The otherwise flowing wardrobe that Cremia wore had been discarded for something more snug and easy to move around in. More specifically, her normally loosely fitting shirt was replaced by one that wound around her curves so that they would stay out of the way during strenuous action. Much to her chagrin, any form of skirt either would have been too tight to move around in to the fullest extent, or too loose so much that it would. Thus, Cremia forced herself to slip into a pair of young women's slacks. Furthermore, for the first time in her life, Cremia had her long crimson locks defy gravity into a large bun that sat elegantly on her head.

For whatever reason, Van did not immediately respond. In fact, it took a discreet hit in the stomach with a training bow from Romani to get any movement from Van.

"Fine!" He wheezed as he reeled back from the hit. He cleared his throat, yanked the bow out of Romani's hand, "Yeah, that should work." He extended the said bow to Cremia. "So, you look like the kind of person who hates combat, and would rather play a sort of supporting role in battle. I think a bow-and-arrow would suit you. Plus, I can just tell you have keen perception and a good grasp on coordination."

"Thanks." Cremia took the bow and looked it up and down. It was her first time holding a weapon, even if it was a fake one. Sure, she had wielded a tool as a weapon during a certain incident she would rather recollect as little as possible, but for the first real time, she held a tool of malice, albeit a mockery of one. "I don't really know. I feel completely out of my element."

Romani leapt on top of a log, "No way, sister! I think you look _hot_!"

Van's head whipped around at that blunt statement. Cremia's mouth hung open, appalled, "Romani! Where did you hear that word being used like that?"

"Um… I heard one of the carpenter's men shouting it one time. I thought it was another way to say that something is cool. Because it's kinda the opposite of 'cool…'"

"Just so you know," Van cleared his throat again, "I completely agree with Romani. I also think you look 'hot.'" An awkward silence followed as the newly born double entendre. Van chewed his lip, then clapped his hands, "Anyway, the first step to using a weapon is to be comfortable just holding it. In fact, I think little sis can help you with that."

Romani's head snapped up at the mention that she could have any part in healing Grasshopper. She hopped onto a taller log so that she could look down on her big sister. "You heard him! I'm the one who knows how to use a bow-and-arrow, and you're going to be grateful when I show you how!" Little would one know that Romani was making fun of how Cremia acted whenever the latter sister would show her kid sister how to use a tool or perform out a chore. That is why Cremia sighed and rolled her eyes at the turned tables. "First off, when you hold a bow when you don't think you'll be using it in a while, you have the string so it's under your arm, not on the outside like you are holding it now."

Fortunately for Cremia's patience, most of what she needed to know she found in observing Romani and Grasshopper use bows. The awkward part was getting down precision aiming. Romani race around the field and set up ghost balloons, which had really bad timing in light of recent events, but they were the only targets available.

For the most part, Cremia was able to at least hit the balloon, but never hit the bulls-eye in the middle of the target. It wasn't until she spotted one target that floated right over where it was burned into Cremia's memory where Grasshopper had taken the decisive strike that put him in his condition. Filled with a mixture of emotions, Cremia let the arrow fly, and it struck the balloon, which burst and gave away to show Van behind it. Before Cremia could react, Van showed that he held up a piece of splintered wood that intercepted the arrow. He looked at the tattered balloon remains that were tacked to the wood by the arrow, and saw that it was the center of the bulls-eye. "Good shot!"

-

After all balloons were expended, there was a unanimous decision that action should be taken at last. Said Van, "If we get into a habit of doing nothing, we will do so much nothing that there will be no 'something' to get done." After getting blank stares, he looked off and said, "Think about it."

The unfortunate aspect was that they were all ready to go, but they really had no clue where to start doing anything.

"I'll bet if it were somebody else and this were up to Grasshopper, he'd know what to do." Cremia sighed one time.

That got the wheels in Van's head turning. "Hmm… other people. You just got me thinking… it doesn't necessarily have to be just two of us going around and finding the items. Are there any other people who owe something to Grasshopper, or would be familiar enough to join us in helping him out?"

Cremia and Romani both turned their head toward each other slowly, as if Van's question had been entirely rhetorical.

"We can think of a few people." Romani said in a monotone, oddly enough to add emphasis on what she said.

"Perfect!" Van declared, "So all we need to do is go around Clock Town, then?"

"Um… No…" Cremia was a bit confused at Van's cheek. Didn't he know there were more places in Termina than just Clock Town?

After hearing about the several locations, Van folded his arms and thought, "Okay… that sure is a lot of bases to cover. I don't suppose you have some sort of warping tool on your Ranch?"

Once again, fate proved to be in their favor. One dash in and out of the house later, Van was presented with the multitask.

"Aha…" Van muttered, looking the instrument over, "I've seen this before… Um, back when I first met Grasshopper, of course." He quickly drummed over the instrument a little bit and figured out the basic usage of the multitask. He was also given the papers that Grasshopper kept all of the songs on. "Right! So all we need to do is use this instrument to go around this world and ask people for their help!"

Cremia nodded, and then came to a realization. "Wait… no! We just can't leave the ranch alone! As if we need to be even more behind on our work! I'll need to contact some people to look after the ranch if we really must leave."

Van craned his neck to look past Cremia, "I think your problem just solved itself."

The two sisters turned around to the direction to where Van was looking and sure enough, a caravan of carriages rolled in, driven by and carrying working men.

"Where did…?" Cremia began to wonder, and then softened once she saw familiar decorations adorn the carriages. "Max… his selfless heart."

"I have a feeling," Van smiled, "that there is a lot of good karma going around."

-

The wings of the Song of Soaring appeared in the snowy mountainous regions of Termina. It deposited the trio of Cremia, Romani, and Van, and promptly vanished.

"Ooh!" Van began rubbing his arms, "Are you sure this is a place where we can find somebody that knows Grasshopper! I mean… it looks all but devoid of life!"

Cremia bundled up the warm wear she brought, "What are you talking about? It's common knowledge that the Gorons live up here." She and Romani gave Van inquiring looks."

Van breathed into his hand and muttered, "Uhm, of course. I was merely talking in reference to the immediate area, which I thought was the destination. To the Gorons, then."

Cremia had listened intently to Grasshopper's stories of when he had been in this region, so she had no problem finding the way to the Goron's village. Van had no trouble dispatching the Wolfos that had spawned since Cremia told him they were coming. The village itself was actually a little empty.

"Where is everybody?" Cremia couldn't help but asking to her own echo.

A Goron walking by stopped, "There are races going on today! All the villagers went out to watch… unlike all of us working people! I tell you…"

Van gestured, "Trust me when I say that you are a truly praiseworthy unsung hero. You'll get your day in the sun!"

The Goron was taken back by the sudden compliment and vote of confidence. "Uh… sure!" One could have noticed the increased bounce in the Goron's step that contrasted the slight slump before the conversation.

"He's comatose, but his spirit is ever present." Van muttered, referring to Grasshopper.

-

When the site of the Goron races faded into view, Romani was taken by so much wonder that she ran the rest of the way. She was stopped by the barrier of Goron backs.

Van pre-empted the issue, "So I take it this Goron is a racing fan?"

"No way!" Romani called back, "He's a racer!"

"A _racer_?" Van echoed, "I must say, that's tremendous. I have no doubt now that he'd be a valuable asset in finding the Soul Patch and Lantern." He approached a singular Goron who was dressed in a bow-tie and sitting behind a stone desk. "Excuse me, do you know if we can talk to Serf?"

The Goron behind the desk looked up, "The race is about to start. Maybe you can talk to him afterward. If you want to watch, you're standing on the platform.

A look around showed the circumstances. The race track was a wide spiraling stretch of snow-covered mountain that started at the top of the cone and kept slanting down and around. The walls were hollowed out so that the track could occupy the same space, just lower down, as it went. In the middle of the spiral was a large wooden platform with four wooden posts. A system of pulleys was present to lift the platform up and give the best view to spectators. As the platform descended to keep up with the action, it also rotated so that the spectators would not tire themselves out manually rotating to see the action.

The platform creaked to the top of the observation range. The line of Gorons ready to race were preparing.

"Which one is Serf?" Romani asked, having leapt on top of the stone desk to get a better perspective.

"The second to the left." A foggy voice pointed out. Next to Van was a Goron in what appeared to be a black vest. "Yeah, we had our differences with that guy, but ever since he started racing, we've been betting on him and it's made our branch of the business above the game."

In all honesty, Van did not care about what this shady Goron had to gain from Serf's racing or was kind of "business" this Goron engaged in, but at least he knew who he was looking at.

"That smaller one?" Cremia observed, "I never would have imagined."

The announcement for the race was called. After a count down, the racers rolled out. Immediately Serf broke ahead of the pack. He fell back, but generally kept on top. He utilized creative steering and cutting corners to keep ahead not only with sheer speed, but with his skillful racing. The real treat was seeing his signature "Serf Slide" when he unrolled and slid down a patch of ice on hit feet. It sped him up enough to lead the others in his dust, so to speak. Other Gorons tried to follow his lead but ended up careening off the side and on their faces.

The platform touched down as Serf reached the bottom in a comfortable lead. Drums boomed Serf's fanfare and fans cheered loudly. Serf unrolled, landed on his feet, and turned to greet his fans. Van wasted no time in nudging through and reaching Serf as soon as the latest fan had gotten his autograph.

"Gee, enthusiastic, aren't you?" Serf inquired of Van, who had knocked aside a Goron to reach Serf.

Van, however, got right to the point. "I actually want to ask a favor of you. It's about Grasshopper."

Serf was all ears.

-

The wings of the Song of Soaring next touched down near Cape Zora.

"This must be where the Zoras live! Cool!" Romani once again bounced away from the tour group.

Van gave a resigning sigh, "Little ball of cheery energy, isn't she?"

Cremia stopped right beside him, "She's wanted to see the world outside the ranch for so long. She takes it from me, I guess. I feel kind of guilty for putting her safety and her perception of reality ahead of her freedom and sense of wonder. She still somehow has the most vivid imagination and thirst for knowledge of anybody I know."

"It takes a real special person."

They watched Romani all but glide into the Cape Zora tunnel in a way that was protective and easily able to step in if she ever needed help, but still far away enough that she could enjoy the experiences without deterrent. It was a lot like how parents oversee their children while they play. Cremia realized this with a start. If the scene was such, then that would make her the mother, and Van…

She cast an embarrassed look over to Van just for even beginning to think such a thing. She was surprised to see Van looking back at her with a similar face. Had he been thinking the same thing? How could he?

"We should get going. Grasshopper's counting on us." Van motioned for Cremia to enter first.

"Oh yes!" Cremia spoke up after being jarred into reality, "Grasshopper." Just a bit before, she had spilled her guts about how she truly felt for Grasshopper, and now she just had an involuntary image of herself and another man? Would that be counted as infidelity? Cremia decided to just concentrate on the task at hand and took Van's invitation to enter Cape Zora first.

Cape Zora was the same-old, same-old to the Zoras, but for first-time visitors like Cremia and Van, the sight of the spiraling walkways and waterfalls that reached to the sky and crashed into the pools at the same time was admittedly engrossing. Romani's red head stuck out like a sore thumb in the blue of the rest of Cape Zora. Cremia and Van noticed that Romani had managed to pull aside two youthful Zoras.

"Sister!" Romani called out enthusiastically, "These are some of the Zoras I met before with Grasshopper! That one's Rist and his name is Tan!"

Rist motioned to Romani, "We were just exchanging pleasantries with Little Lady here before we rounded up a group for Fin. Think maybe you can rope G into a game?"

"Get your sight checked, dude." Tan muttered aside, "It looks like G's been switched out. He's out doing something crazy, huh?"

Van cleared his throat, "Actually, the whereabouts of, ahem, _G_ are a lot less exciting than that." He continued to explain Grasshopper's current state with some comments from the sisters.

"That's harsh…" Tan rubbed the back of his head. "I'm almost sorry I asked."

Rist clenched a fist, "So you guys need some more to your party, huh?" Unlike the totally rad and laid-back Zoras they were earlier, Rist and Tan now adopted serious faces that were rarely used and therefore in top condition.

"We don't want too many, though." Cremia interjected, "So we're sorry, but we're only looking for one Zora."

"No thing!" Rist held up a hand. Tan was excited at Rist's volunteering to be left behind until Rist's hand fell on his shoulder. "Hold the fort while I'm gone, bro."

"Hold the-? Hold the fort?" Tan demanded and pushed Rist's hand away, "I'm not a fort-holder! You're way more of a fort-holder than I am! You've totally been benched on games of Fin a whole lot more than I have!"

"That's only because I've played in, like, twice as many games as you have! You only play when the opposing captain is a totally pushover!"

"What does that make you, huh?"

"GENTLEMEN!" Van cut through, "I'm sorry to hold up your eventual fisticuffs, but we have no time for this."

"No prob." Rist held up a hand again, "We've got our ways of settling these thing. All right, dude. Rock-paper-sword, right now!"

"You're on!"

"Rock… paper…" Both Zoras chanted, nudging fists forward after every word. They thrust their hands out at the same time with the call of "SWORD!"

Rist's hand was balled into a fist. Tan's hand was in the same position. A third hand had its webbed fingers spread out.

"Dude…" Tan muttered, "We BOTH lost. I guess- Whoa whoa who, WHAT?"

Rist and Tan looked to the side and saw the female Zora Zenkit holding her hand out in the _paper_ position. "I win!"

Rist looked back and forth from the hands to the Zenkit, "I, ah, that can't happen! You weren't even in the RUNNING!"

Zenkit withdrew her hand and used it to place her hands on her hips, "Let me rephrase that… I'm going and you guys are not! I heard everything and I'm the best candidate for the job! Either of you would just screw around and cause more trouble for the operation than any good!"

Rist took Zenkit up on her offering and called her out, "I'll admit that's a distinct possibility, but are you going out of our shortcomings, or the fact that G makes you purple in the face? Hmm?"

Zenkit emitted what was a cross between a gasp and a squeak. That statement mad her turn as purple as Rist had indicated.

"Ah, yes. Purple in the face, weak in the knees, moist between the-"

"Dude!" Tan cut in.

"I was gonna say arms, dude. Sweat, you know?"

"Oh."

"Enough!" Van sighed, "The girl is in. I've seen enough of you two."

"Told you!" Zenkit stuck her tongue out at the other two.

-

Ikana Canyon was host to the Song of Soaring's next landing. Cremia, Romani, and Van all emerged with their head craned upward.

"This is where the Tingle Tuner says he is!" Romani called up to her two elders. She indicated the green device that Tingle had left behind to be called upon at any time. It also held the ability to track him down. Tingle had called it the _Tingle Tuner_ one time.

"Is that him?" Van asked and indicated a green mass in the sky held up by a red one.

"I'd remember that red balloon anywhere." Cremia nodded.

"HEY, TINGLE!" Romani called up. Her voice echoed for miles. Despite her decibels, the would-be fairy did not appear to hear. "TINGLE!" She tried again to again no avail.

Cremia sighed, "That Tingle… he's a good friend of Grasshopper's, but I have a feeling he's not entirely there some, or even MOST of the time."

Van cast another look up into the sky. "Why does he have to be so high up? It would be so easy if he didn't have that balloon." Van tilted his head at this thought. "Um, Cremia? How confident are you with that bow?"

Cremia fingered the sling for her bow, "With Romani's help… I can hit moderately distanced targets… why?"

"Want some target practice?" Van pointed straight upward.

"Hit TINGLE?"

"No, the balloon!" Oddly enough it was Romani who spoke up. "Sister, that's great target practice! Can't I do it instead, Van?"

"Ah-ah." Van waved a finger, "You're sister is more in need of this practice. Unless you're not up to it?"

Cremia huffed a little, "Of course I am! One falling green man, coming up!" She then grabbed her bow and aimed it upward in one motion.

Unfortunately for her, Cremia had little to no experience firing at such an angle. All she could do was an abstract comparison to firing horizontally. She counted for wind and gravity, adjusted accordingly, and then let the arrow fly. The arrow reached far above Tingle, descended onto the balloon, and then fell tip-first. Unfortunately, there was very little momentum. The arrow harmlessly bounced off the balloon and careened to the ground. Tingle looked at his balloon, saw that everything was all right, and continued to mark his map.

Romani hunched over the fallen arrow. "At least… the arrow TOUCHED the balloon!"

Cremia's face flared with frustration and embarrassment at Romani's comment, which could have been sincere or sarcastic. Cremia looked back to Tingle and the balloon and once again took aim with the bow. This time she pulled the arrow twice as far back. When she let it go, a slight whizzing sound announced the arrow's leave of the ground level. The time between the arrow leaving and the balloon popping was too close to count. Gravity kicked in and Tingle began a terminal velocity fall to the ground.

Meanwhile, in the Gorman Ranch, a stray arrow whizzed right through the window of the Gormans' ranch house. Both one-browed brothers shot out the door shouting "We're under attack! We're under attack!"

Back in Ikana Canyon, Tingle used a second balloon to slow his descent and land on the ground safely. Tingle's head shot in the direction of the trio trying to get his attention. Van couldn't help but recoil.

"What do we have here, hmm? Customers for Tingle's maps, perhaps?" His tone changed when he noticed Cremia and Romani. "Oh, joy! The ranch ladies are here! To what does Tingle owe the pleasure, hmm?"

When he recovered from the initial shock of Tingle's appearance, Van introduced himself and transitioned into the story of Grasshopper's incident.

"Oh my, sir." Tingle shook his head, "Very unfortunate, sir. Do you require the services of Tingle, sir?"

"That's right." Van nodded, "I have an obligation to Grasshopper, so I'm taking it upon myself to get the Soul Patch and Lantern. Cremia feels the same. We have a Goron in case a task requires strength that neither of us have, and in case we come into trouble with water or generally need agility, we recruited a Zora. Once I was told about you, Tingle, I knew you were perfect for birds-eye views. You can oversee an entire area and even supply backup for times of danger. With you, we will have assembled a good group for dungeon crawling. What do you say?"

Tingle thoughtfully placed his chin in a hand and tapped the side of his head with a finger from the other hand. "The fairy boy only needed a lone fair to accompany him, sir."

Van cocked an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"Count Tingle in!" The fairy proclaimed. "However, I do wonder why you simply did not call with the Tingle Tuner?"

The other three all looked down at the green box. All were too proud to admit that they had forgotten that function, despite the said function being the Tingle Tuner's main function.

-

Cremia was able to pass by the ranch-sitters sent by Max after the Song of Soaring touched down in front of the Romani Ranch. She graciously thanked them for their work that day and their work in the coming days. She was especially thankful because the work had kept Romani and herself almost caged in at the ranch. In one day Romani saw the snowy mountains, the caverns of Cape Zora, and the solemn mounds of Ikana Canyon. There was a silent guilt tugging at the back of Cremia's mind that they had been traveling at Grasshopper's expense, but even he would probably be smiling on Romani's thrills at traveling the world like she had only imagined before.

All of the individuals that Van had come to for help all needed a few days to prepare in their various ways. When the day agreed on for the group to finally head out was only a sunset away, the day found Van, Cremia, and Romani in the ranch house, reclined in their seats. The day had been fun but long and tiring.

"We depart in the morning… all of us." Van said to the ceiling. "All the others need time to prepare and rest well because tomorrow we are heading for the Soul Patch. I don't know where it could be, but we'll put our heads together and figure something out."

"I'm thirsty." Romani couldn't help but express out.

Cremia snickered at Romani's forward approach. "There's some milk in the refrigeration."

Both sisters made as to look more exhausted than they were. They both looked to Van.

"What?" Van piqued. He looked over to the refrigeration. "Not here for two days and I'm already put to work…"

As soon as Van stood up completely, a knock on the door nearly shook the foundation of the house.

"While you're up…?" Cremia inquired with a toothy grin. Van glared back with a mock bitterness.

Van pushed the door open. "Hel-?"

"_Hell_ is right!" A female voice boomed, freezing Van in place, "As in what the _hell _were you thinking, going around and not seeking the help of the most qualified person for the job?"

Van stared at this young woman in front of him staring him down as if he had committed a terrible, terrible wrong against her. He held up a finger to signify he was about to talk, then simply asked, "Who are you?"

The young woman stood as still as stone for a good couple of minutes, then burst to life. "What do you MEAN 'who are you?' You hear about all the great and wonderful people Grasshopper has met over the span of his time in Termina and you never heard a LICK of me, Nesira?"

"I… can't say it has ever come up."

"I don't BELIEVE this! Let me see him! Let me see Grasshopper!" Nesira pushed past Van without waiting for him to respond to her demands. She looked Grasshopper, still on the couch, over. "Yeah, he's as down and out as they say. I can't leave that idiot alone for a few minutes without him jumping in front of a charging Goron to save a kitten."

Van gave a look to Cremia asking what to do with Nesira. Cremia's eyes rolled slowly away, leaving Nesira to Van. Van sighed, "Look, the problem is that I've assembled a precise 'team' of individuals. I don't really know what you can provide that anybody we already have can't."

"Yeah, I've heard about you guys flying around and gathering your dream team. I heard about you ranch girls being everywhere the sun touches accompanied by what is only described as a male angel descended; with blue eyes deep as the ocean and hair a golden blonde is puts real gold to shame."

Van blinked, "That… what you've heard?"

Nesira glared, "Noooo, I made that up on the spot because I'm in love with you! Of COURSE that's what I heard! If you haven't noticed, this is a pretty small world! You can't whisper anything in the beach without it being heard in the goddess-forsaken swamp!"

"Yes, well-" Van paused. Why would Nesira talk about this world being small? As compared to what? He worked the wheels in his mind until finally the name registered. "Ahem… if you're not going to concede any ground, let's talk in a private setting where your shouts don't threaten to rip the house off its foundations. We can use Grasshopper's room… if that's fine with you."

There was a pause. Cremia realized she was being talked to. "Oh, yes. Of course."

Van and Nesira already began to ascend the stairs. "Grasshopper's room?" Nesira gave a look, "You had better not try anything funny."

"Don't flatter yourself." Van muttered.

Once the two somewhat bickering individuals retreated to their secluded area, the entire downstairs was at a hush. One reason was that they were listening to see if they could hear what was being discussed upstairs. Another was that simply Cremia and Romani had nothing to discuss. They both felt equally as awkward about the transpiring situation. At one point Romani jumped up to go up the stairs and eavesdrop. "Romani" Cremia scolded, "They are just talking amongst themselves! I don't think it concerns anybody else."

There were a couple of minutes of silence until it was broken by Nesira yelping "WHAT?" It made Cremia and Romani jump. The odd part of the yelp was not in that it occurred, but it sounded almost… delighted, like when one is gossiping with a friend.

"Okay…" Cremia said through a nibbled lower lip, "I admit that I would like to know what made THAT."

The deafening silence, still ringing with the echo of Nesira's word, was finally put to an end when the door to Grasshopper's room made the sound of opening and closing. Nesira lead the way back down the stairs. Both she and Van looked over at Grasshopper in unusual ways. Van crossed over to Grasshopper. He knelt and took a better look at the armbands around Grasshopper's wrists, then placed a hand on his own wrist.

"It's decided." Van started and turned around, "Nesira's going to be coming with us as well."

"Cool!" Romani blurted out. She checked to see if Cremia would shoot her a disapproving glare, which she surprisingly did not.

Cremia was instead focused on Grasshopper. Why did Van look at Grasshopper's armbands? Why did Van touch his own wrist after doing so? Why were he and Nesira looking at Grasshopper like that? What did they talk about upstairs? Did all those things have to do with each other? Why was there no longer any hostility between Van and Nesira? Tears of juvenile frustration welled in her eyes. She was so full of questions that she was willing to just throw a tantrum if it gave her what she wanted. Not in front of Romani, though. "No problems here." Cremia simply stated.

"Good!" Nesira half snorted, "I wasn't looking to roll any heads anyway." She walked over to the door and for some reason Van followed her.

"We're leaving tomorrow, so prepare for travel." Van warned.

Nesira stopped barely on the out side of the doorframe, "Yeah… like I really have a whole lot to bring. Now I'm gonna be honest. I'll want you to back up because I'm going to shut the door and I don't want it to ruin that pretty face of yours."

Van awkwardly took a long step back. As promised, Nesira slammed the door and a wind from the quick movement ruffled hair and cloth in the room. Van sighed and wandered to the refrigeration. He returned to the table with three bottles of milk. "As you asked."

"Thanks." Cremia responded immediately. She watched Van take a swig of milk and look out the window in thought. There was a lot of thinking going around. Cremia decided to do something different and actually act on the thinking. "Van… what just happened between you and Nesira?"

"Uh?" Van grunted, "What? Oh, nothing. We just agreed that we were all connected by Grasshopper and anybody on the good part of that chain is a friend to another. Like the rest of us her heart is in the right place where it really counts."

It sounded right. On to the next question. "Why did Nesira shout 'what?' It sounded like you revealed something."

Van paused. Every second was another ounce of suspicion on Van's shoulders. "Ah, yes. That. I told Nesira that in regard to what is being said about me, I get that all the time wherever I go. She couldn't have spouted more sarcasm at me after I said that. I mean, I DO look like a person who would get that sort of thing, right?"

"Yeah." That sounded like Nesira. Okay, more information. "What was with Grasshopper's armbands. You seemed to look at them with a lot of interest."

More stalling from Van. Cremia sighed with all the tension. These things shouldn't be catching him off-guard! "Nesira told me about them." He said as if he had finally come up with the right words and got his turn in some game. "I took a look for myself and imagined what it would be like to have those around my wrist. It wouldn't be very pleasant, I imagine." That made sense. "Any more questions I should be looking forward to?

This time it was Cremia who had to watch her response time. Now it was Van who had all right to judge Cremia on how long it took for her to respond. If she took too long, Van may suspect that Cremia was more than just curious. "No." She said at last. She then realized that she was only supposed to be curious and smiled. "No! I just saw a few weird things! I learn by asking! That's why I ask!"

"Hey, power to you." Van motioned vaguely. Once his bottle was empty he stood up. "Well, I should get back to Clock Town and the Stock Pot Inn. We've got quite a day tomorrow.

"Okay." Was all Cremia had to offer Van when he turned and left. The sisters were left to just continued sipping at their bottles of milk that Van had selflessly fetched for them.

"Sister…" Romani asked slowly, "What's going on?"

In all truth it was a very, _very _good question. What _was_ going on? Where would they be going tomorrow? Will it guarantee Grasshopper's recovery? Will it really be so perilous? Those things were just the immediate. Something happened between Van and Nesira. They talked about something that transcended the immediate situation and there was a good chance it had something to do with Grasshopper. What was with all the secrets and hidden agendas? Did they know something about Grasshopper? What really _was_ going on?

Cremia answered Romani truthfully. "I don't know."


	17. The Soul Patch

**The Legend of Zelda: Shackles of Memory**

**Chapter 17: The Soul Patch**

The final night of preparation before heading out to find the Soul Patch was a tense one. Van never said that there would be any perilous situations involved with finding the Soul Patch, yet he went ahead and assembled a team of individuals as if they were raiding a fortress. That was only the beginning of the curiosities and worries for Cremia. A last-minute twist on the situation presented itself when Nesira wedged herself into the picture. Her natural charm was taken in typical form by Van until they spoke in private. When they shared a few words behind closed doors Cremia could have sworn they took to each other as if they had met before… and she was sure Grasshopper was in the middle of all of it in some way, shape, or form. All these thoughts were absolutely exhausting for Cremia to process. Oddly enough they were so exhausting that they cradled Cremia to a good full night's sleep.

-

Like she does every day, Cremia awoke with the cucco's call. She undertook her usual daily ritual of rubbing the dust out of her eyes, setting out all her clothes, and taking a bath to start her day. This particular day was singular and solemn. The clothes she set out were going to be worn for the third time; the first when she first tried them on, the second when she tried them on in a previous day, and the third time will be when she got out of the shower, put them on, and marched out to an uncertain location with uncertain results.

Another addition to the daily ritual, Cremia lifted up her hair in a bun and grabbed her sister's bow. Even though battles were not certain, the set-up Van constructed screamed for it. Van himself sat at the downstairs table with his arms crossed. He looked out at the sunrise with an expression that could not be read for the life of anybody. He appeared to notice Cremia's descent.

"It occurred to me that perhaps we ought to leave as soon as possible, but rest it more important than punctuality. How are you doing?"

Cremia shrugged. "Fine. I got enough sleep in the end."

"Excellent. Well, as soon as you're ready we can go get the others of our group and head out. I'm thinking that the more pressing item is the Soul Patch. That way we can keep Grasshopper in a constant condition instead of worsening by the second."

"Right. Then let's go!"

The moment was stunted by smaller feet hitting the floor. Cremia and Van looked to see Romani, still in her night gown and rubbing her eyes, looking back at them. Cremia was especially surprised since even though both she and Romani claim that the younger sister wakes up with the cuccos, it really was Cremia that wakes Romani up every morning. She would rather sleep in like most kids.

This particular morning was admittedly different. Romani gently approached her sister and hugged around the older sister's matronly form. "Good luck, Sister."

Cremia's eyes softened as she placed a hand on her sister's shoulder and another on the top of her head. Romani never would have done such a thing any time before Grasshopper first arrived. His simple and somewhat naïve nature put the most basic things in life in perspective. Cremia had been obsessed with making a profit with the ranch but ended up content in just running the ranch. The fact that the ranch began to go under was an unfortunate coincidence.

With her sister so concentrated on the ranch's financial status, it was too easy for Romani to begin taking her sister for granted. Romani was under the impression by her fellow children that any authority, be it parents or especially older siblings, was not understanding and ought to be contested with great indignity. Thus Romani, despite her friendly nature, took to shrugging her sister's affection off and treating her sister's cooking with disdain, among other things. Grasshopper's constant genuine recognition of how important every person and thing is to him reminded Romani of her own, or the lack thereof.

For the umpteenth time, Cremia made note of yet another reason why she, the ranch, Clock Town, and perhaps all of Termina owe something to Grasshopper. He has unintentionally become somewhat of a lifeblood that has righted the wrongs with society like profit motive and relativity. Cremia felt it her duty as a receiver of Grasshopper's good will to turn around and actually help _Grasshopper_ in _his_ time of need.

Cremia rubbed the top of Romani's head comfortingly. "Thank you, Romani. I really mean that. Don't you worry; we'll have him back soon. And I'll be in _great_ company. All you have to do is be a good girl and help out the ranch hands in any way you can."

Rather than protest at being able to do nothing about Grasshopper or being forced to do chores, Romani looked up at her sister and nodded swiftly, causing tears to lose their grip. "Okay!"

Van wiped his eye from under his golden locks and stood from his seat. "All right, I take it that is our cue to go." He passed by Romani and ruffled her hair. "Like your sister said… be good, kid."

Romani finally came up with her response as the two elder individuals were half out the door. "YOU be good, too! Don't try any funny business with Cremia just 'cause she's pretty!"

Cremia's and Van's heads whipped up at that comment. They shared a red-faced stare. Van broke it to coolly look back at Romani.

"I'll make no promises, kid."

Cremia and Van left Romani giggling, which was a much better sight to leave her with than a solemn and teary goodbye.

-

If somebody told Cremia a year or two ago that she would be in party consisting of a Zora, a Goron, Tingle (that strange guy who draws outside your ranch), A Gerudo with green hair, and a mysterious yet rugged young man who she may feel something for based solely on a physical attraction or something that she may feel underlying (not unlike the awkward graces she used to share with Grasshopper, yet another young man who this entire situation was for, but that would be going off on several tangents), she would have laughed and continued on her way.

Yet there she was. Surrounded by individuals freshly gathered from a meeting place in front of Clock Town's owl statue. There were six in all. There was, of course, her, Cremia. She was dressed in a way completely unlike her normal attire and carried a weapon, a bow-and-arrow, which also betrayed her normal mannerisms. Next was Van who as far as Cremia could tell was also Termanian (or whatever the term is for her own species) but otherwise he was just a decent person trying to repay a debt to Grasshopper.

Next was the female Zora, Zenkit. Cremia had no experience around Zenkit but as far as she could tell Zenkit was normally on the shy side but really stepped up with a firm and webbed fist when it came to issues she felt strongly about, be it to step in and protect a friend or to have the largest cucco nugget from the plate. An equally new figure in the party was Serf, the Goron. Even though he stood above any of the other five, anybody would know that he was small for a Goron. His teenage voice nailed in his age for any skeptics. A recent string of success in Goron racing caused him to take any situation and put it in terms of racing to make it all seem friendlier and more approachable. It was a wide-eyed determination that must have rubbed off from Grasshopper.

Tingle's exact identity was up for debate. He claimed to be a fairy, but the fairies that Cremia read about only existed to the naked eye as balls of light with wings that show their true form only up close. There was nothing radiant about the arguably disturbing maybe middle-aged short man and his only means of flight came in the form of balloons. Past that was a simple-minded fellow who enjoyed being helpful. Last, and certainly not least if she could help it was the fiery Gerudo herself, Nesira. Cremia clicked her mind's tongue at the way Nesira dressed, a metallic breast plate kept on by thin straps and big-legged Gerudo pants, and at the way Nesira carried herself around. The girl probably doesn't have a drop of estrogen in her that surpassed the expectations of any Gerudo. No, scratch that. Nesira sure took advantage of her feminine wiles when it came to Grasshopper. Unfortunately for her woman's intuition, Cremia had nothing damning against Nesira that she could immediately recall. Thus in the fashion of an accepting individual Cremia had no choice but to accept Nesira's help through her teeth.

When the group met Van outlined the possible locations as he had done as mere speculation for Cremia and Romani. He said that the Soul Lantern would be more pressing to salvage what is left of Grasshopper so they would no longer be working against time before he lost too much of his soul and was lost forever. The Soul Patch is not whole, but a vital ingredient would be located in a serene setting that felt healing. A forest was always a good bet. Being an expert on locations, Tingle immediately presented the Woods at the edge of the swamp.

"Exactly what I needed, down to the letter!" Van nodded in approval of the swimming progress, "You get a point."

"POINTS?" Nesira couldn't help but call out. "Now you're SCORING us on how much we do!?"

Eyes were rolled all around. Van sighed, "No, of course not. I wouldn't do anything so cranial. I was just using a figure of speech."

"I still don't approve."

Zenkit cut into the possible bickering fight. "Do you have to be angry to assure yourself that you feel some way about something? He's trying to make things more comfortable and you're winding us all up again!"

Nesira shot Zenkit a look and for the first time the Gerudo's glare was matched. She eventually scratched an opposite arm. "Yeah, yeah. Screwing around isn't making Grasshopper healthier! What are we all waiting for!?"

Van stood, "I agree. We'll have to put our prides aside if we want to repay the debt we _all_ owe to him. Let's move out!" The group of six began to pile out the door of the Milk Bar. Van paused by Zenkit. "Oh, and I really appreciate your dedication to keeping this operation together. One nonexistent point for you!"

An appalled scoff escaped Nesira. She watched Zenkit vengefully as the Zora beat a slightly quicker stride with her chest out and a nonspecific smug grin.

Serf rubbed the back of his head. Half of him worried that there wasn't enough maturity to go around. The other half wondered when he would get in on any of that scoring action.

-

Convinced that being part of the team entitled it to free maps, Tingle gladly lent a parchment that covered the swamp. There was little trouble in finding the said Woods. Past the large logged entrance the group saw in front of them three more paths. Each looked exactly like the rest and was pitch black inside. None of them could make out the end to any of them.

Van handed the swamp map back to Tingle. "Okay, now could I have the map for these Woods?"

"Aheh, sir…" Tingle said nervously, "These Woods… they are un-map-able! See, sir, they are _magic_. You can run one way and _never_ hit the opposite edge, sir!"

"'Magic Woods?'" Zenkit repeated, never having been in these parts of Termina before.

For some reason, those words caused Van to stare ahead in thought. His gaze seemed to take in the words 'Magic Woods' and find something in his memory that would match it at all. Eventually his search came up fruitful. He looked into the sky, which oddly was not covered by treetops, and leaned to a side.

Cremia approached to inquire Van as to what he was doing but Van held up a finger. "Do you hear that…?"

The other five also leaned. Without any of their chatter only the sounds of the Woods were heard. Those sounds soon included something that one would swear did not belong in the woods.

"Music…" Cremia mused.

"_Funky_ music, too!" Serf beamed, "If it were any louder, I could just dance!"

Nesira suppressed a laugh which came out as a snort. "A Goron dancing? I would like to see THAT."

Completely ignoring the comments from the peanut gallery, Van balled the finger into a full fist. "I think that music is these 'Magic Woods'' way of giving us a fighting chance to find our way through. Assuming there was something to find, at any rate." Or perhaps the Woods directs any person or party in the direction _they_ wanted go? It sounded presumptuous to Van, but considering the world outside of dwellings anything was possible. "Okay, somebody go to each of those three caves and tell me if you hear anything different."

The closest members positioned themselves beside each large log. 'Nothing different.' came out twice but Serf bounced a little as he stood. "Oh yeah! The music is louder over here!"

Triumphant looks were exchanged and at Van's word they piled into the tunnel. When the darkness in the log tunnel lifted, the site they now stood only lowered morale.

"It's the same thing!" Someone groaned.

Tragically and truly enough, the area they emerged into consisted of an empty grassy patch with four log tunnels including the one they just used. Van, however, seemed no more disheartened. "Okay, same deal! Somebody to an entrance!"

Zenkit had no sooner taken her place when she squeaked and reeled back. "Definitely this way!"

Once more the group took to a spirited sprint. Van looked to the ground but found Tingle hovering with his balloon at eye level. "You ought to be making a map. I mean, we'll probably need to retrace our steps."

"Yes, sir!" Tingle produced a parchment and his quill from seemingly nowhere. "Okay, now the areas is about this size, hmm, and we took a right and then a left, was it? Ahhh…" One would wonder how Tingle could draw without a flat surface, but a closer look would reveal that the quill magically traced ink onto the paper without making actual contact or with any ink on its tip.

The trip was interesting enough at first but even standing and listening to music became tedious. Almost everybody looked to Nesira to see when she would start complaining. Van willed the next log cave to lead to something else besides three more log caves. Through some luck and timing he got his wish.

Tingle pointed. "A gate, sir! Something new to draw!"

No logs were in the area, thankfully. There was just the log they came out of, two long hedge walls, and an iron gate. Past the gate the group could see a stairway going downward overlooking a small hedge maze.

Cremia walked up to the gate and held on to the bars so she could see as far past as she could. The colors in the area were all sorts of variations of green, brown. The group took turns commenting on how Nesira ought to be right at home. "Incredible…" Cremia whispered, "I have never _heard_ of this place! At least, I don't _think_ Grasshopper has told me anything about a place in the Woods with so many hedges."

Van walked next to her and scanned the area below. "Probably because he's never had any reason to be here. We, on the other hand, have something to gain that serves a pure purpose. I'm sure that if somebody walked through those woods looking for, say, a missing person, the music would have taken them to that person. These must be hallowed grounds." Van tugged on the gates but a chain kept them shut. "Well, damn. We can't have been taken this far to be blocked by a gate. Maybe a button or an arrow-activated… What is that ungoddessly-?"

"_Coming through!!_" Serf shouted before Van could say 'noise.' The young man grabbed Cremia's arm and pulled her away from the gate before Serf, rolling forward at full speed, barreled through the gate. Nerves kept Cremia plastered to Van. She quickly shoved off him and noticed he covered his face in that way he does when he doesn't want anybody to see him blush. It was quite often as far as Cremia was concerned. The entire double-door gate was ripped from whatever bolting supported it. The gate spun through the air and landed somewhere in the hedge maze.

Serf suffered the same fate. Goron racers never really knew the practicality of slowing down quickly so whatever method the expert racer used to slow down failed him. Continuing at a still-blistering speed, Serf charged down the stairs followed by his shout of "WOOOHHH!!!"

'That's not good' ran through the other five minds. They ran down the wooden steps shouting Serf's name and variations of 'Stop!!' Serf's shout became softer and muffled by bowling over shrubberies. Van touched down on the Earthy floor of the hedge maze first. One by one the group reached the bottom of the steps and paused, gaping mouth varying between the individual. Serf's momentum had caused him to punch right through the hedge maze wall. And the one after that. And the one after that and the one after that. In fact, the other side of the hedge maze was visible from where they stood. Shrugs were exchanged before the group bee-lined through the hedge maze in pursuit of Serf.

The Goron's stop was a very abrupt one. Sure, a large ominous opening had been reached, but Serf was slightly to the left of it. Only his lower half was visible as his upper half was lodged in the stone wall.

"Wiggle your foot if you're okay!" Zenkit called.

The foot wiggled.

"I'd say that we'd need our strong man to help him out…" Van coughed, "But that IS our strong man that needs help."

Moving on was a nice thought, but in all decency leaving Serf there surrounded by stone just did not seem right. Two people took to a leg and pulled as hard as they honestly could. Serf, however, is unmatched in the Goron racing when it comes to speed. He was going well and fast when he collided with the wall and was wedged in tight.

It seemed hopeless until Tingle, the only one not tall enough to pull, brought up that he had a special 'lubricant' that would help in pulling Serf out. With renewed vigor the four pullers took their leg. Tingle told them to pull and not stop until the 'lubricant' had been applied and Serf was free. Tingle floated in the air and without warning tossed a Tingle Bomb into the wall above Serf. The wall shuddered and splintered a bit which shook things up for Serf to be narrowly pulled out.

After being demanded why he didn't mention that his 'lubricant' was a BOMB, Tingle replied, "If Tingle said 'bomb,' you would not have agreed to it, yes?" He was admittedly correct.

Serf picked himself up and breathed in deep. Rocks were a delicacy for Gorons, but not when they were surrounded by a solid wall. An 'Ewww...' from Zenkit alerted the Goron that he was riddled with bleeding scratches from various hedge thorns. "How about that?" he gasped to Van, "I busted down the gate… _and_ I skipped over finding our way through that hedge maze! That's worth… _two_ right there!"

"Two?" Van echoed. He looked around with a raised eyebrow until he spotted Nesira and Zenkit specifically not being near each other. "Oh. Yes. We're over that, though. You can believe it if you want. But seriously I think you should sit down before you pass out from blood loss! I don't know what all your stories tell you, but take it from me… things that indicate mortality like bleeding are _not_ to be taken lightly under my command, are we clear?" As Serf comprehended, Van pinched the bridge of his nose. Now he wished he had never brought up that figure of speech earlier.

The Goron nodded slowly and simply lifted his feet up. He landed with a large thump that threatened the balance of anything on two legs. As he sat he looked around. For the first time he noticed that the music was loud enough that it sounded like it was coming from right next to him. If that were so, was somebody or something playing it or were they just Magical Woods?

As they rested a billowing darkness took advantage of the gate's forceful opening.

-

The large entranceway past the hedge maze lead into a hallway riddled with markings of a foreign language. The hallway lead to what Tingle called a 'main room,' which he claimed was characteristic of all 'dungeon-type' maps. The main room was most notable for the largest tree any of the six had seen right in the center. At the bottom of the room a pool of water constantly kept the tree's roots hydrated. The room was overall circular in shape with only dock-like planks attached to the walls to navigate the room with. Oddly enough to boards supported the weight of five (Tingle opts to float) including the still-heaviest Serf.

Van cranked his head up. He could see the top of the tree barely below the roof of the stone dome. "Surveillance!" he called, "Uh, that is, Tingle. See if you can float to the top of the room and take a look around. We can go two ways and I don't want to split if it can be helped."

"Yes, sir!" The little green man saluted and more balloons inexplicably rooted from his back and carried him higher. Tingle floated down after a good look and a pause to draw some more. "The water, sir! There is a pool but there is… how to say… a _vein_ of water that goes out one way! At the top of the tree there is a space inside that Tingle has yet to see inside!"

"We follow the water flow!" Cremia realized aloud with a start, if not just to get to that solution before Van had.

"Oh no, Miss. The planks are _very_ well built, see? And outside this circle of a room the tunnels are small. Two walls, a ceiling, and the floor without any way to see the water below them. What if you went the wrong way? Tragedy!"

Zenkit struck a hand up, "No problem! Water is my element! I can take the low path through the water and tell you guys where to go if we hit any forks!"

That arrangement was quickly agreed to. Zenkit leapt into the water (which she found to be absolutely pristine) and swam into the narrow opening where the water seemed to flow down from. The rest of the group stuck to walking on the planks. Like Tingle had mentioned, the structure of this new area was one large main room with square tunnels carved into the walls that snaked around the main room and interacted with the large tree in the center. The square tunnels were small and narrow which caused Serf the need to hunch a little bit. In reality the tunnels were much taller but the planks cut the height to a fraction. Zenkit was having the time of her life flying through the water stream below the planks. The makeshift floor was not enough to keep sound from traveling so Zenkit kept tabs by calling up to the rest.

The Zora would call 'Right!' or 'Left!' when asked where to go. Oddly enough Tingle was right again. The path occasionally forked and only Zenkit, who saw the water either flow from the right or the left, knew the proper way to go as was supposed by Cremia.

After one such occasion where Zenkit instructed to go left Nesira picked up a fallen piece of the ceiling and looked to the right. "What would happen if we went the 'wrong way,' huh?" The Gerudo tossed the slab of material down the opposite way.

After the slab crossed the threshold from the fork into officially being down the opposite way, it vanished. Nesira was unfortunate enough to see a black wretched hand claim the object. She felt like seeing that hand also grabbed off a part of her soul. No reference to Grasshopper intended.

Tingle excitedly pointed out that if the next fork hooked right that they would be back in the main room, but higher up. Sure enough the wooden planks lead right and just as surely the corner was bright as the light source from the main room brightened the end of the quadrilateral tunnel. The water flow, however, kept going on. Zenkit leapt from the water to rejoin the group.

A drawbridge blocked the way into the main room. If anybody did not want other people to reach the top of the big tree in the center, they sure were taking the effort to bar passage as often as possible.

"It's up to me again!" Serf pounded his chest, "I'll knock this thing down!"

Serf backed up to gain room but stopped when he felt Nesira's hand on his back. The Gerudo shook her head. "Nuh-uh. You'll knock it down all right. _Completely_ down! We actually want to _use_ this one."

"Right there." Van spoke. He can Cremia peered through the wooden boards that composed the drawbridge. Van pointed toward a network of ropes that circled the main room.

Cremia psyched herself for her first real act of using a bow-and-arrow. She gingerly positioned the arrow so that it would fly through the boards and still hit part of the circle of ropes. All twelve eyes watched hushed when Cremia did let the arrow go. True to the shooter's intent, the arrow pierced the air all the way until it pierced the rope. It hit the wall with a 'clack!' and fell to the bottom of the main room.

The rope, however, began to quickly slip back in both directions. Without a complete rope keeping tension, the bridge was victim to gravity and dragged the two halves of the rope with it. The bridge leaned and fell. The far side of the drawbridge came to rest at what appeared to be a circular opening leading _into_ the tree. Tingle _had_ mentioned that the tree had been hollowed out in some places into 'rooms' of their own.

The inside of the tree looked exactly how one would expect the inside of a hollow tree to look. Entirely circular and the walls were lined with smooth wood with age rings. On the other side of the tree sat a short bipedal creature snoozing.

"Is that…" Nesira squinted, "A _Skull Kid?_" At the mention of his species the Skull Kid woke up with a start. He gasped and looked around at all the different people before him. When Cremia tried to lean forward and talk to him the Skull Kid shrieked and ran away onto another drawbridge and into another wall tunnel. "That was rude." Nesira sighed.

Cremia stood straight with thoughtful apprehension. "Was it _afraid_ of us? I wonder why?"

There was no time to wonder as the woodland sprites attacked.

To be more specific a, for the lack of a better word, swarm of forest spirits began to enter that specific room of the tree. These, once again only using split second terminology, sprites were admittedly different than any fantastic apparition known thus far. Their appearance was that of a young woman wearing upper body garment made of leaves and a short skirt also made of leaves. Every aspect on them, besides the whites of their eyes and their teeth, was some shade of green.

Also to say that they attacked would not be immediately seen from an objective point of view. They would appear to only be eager to play. To the unsuspecting group, however, it was a full-on assault.

The sprites could not talk but they could giggle and laugh playfully. They also held little regard for personal space which may have been the reason why their actions were perceived as hostility.

One sprite was especially fond of Cremia's bun. Since the sprites all let their dark green hair down seeing hair tied up in a way was different. Unlike normal people, different was apparently wonderful and the sprite found no reason not to put a hand on Cremia's shoulder for leverage while she felt around the bun.

Serf tried his best to lightly swat a few away but only found each arm with a sprite grasping on. When he tried to shake them off they only held on tighter and found the fast movement more of a reason to be entertained than to be frightened.

Zenkit squeaked with a purple-faced indignation when she found her hand spread apart and the sprites poked at the webbing between her fingers. A particularly curious sprite took interest in why Zenkit's chest was a single wide rising instead of two objects and prodded the middle of the chest while giggling at the rubbery texture.

The lack of regard for chests even passed on to Nesira. Even she felt too awkward to try and do something violent. A sprite found the Gerudo's breastplate of utter importance and felt over the arcane surface. Nesira would have found it more appalling if her attention wasn't divided between that and one sprite tugging at her wide-cuffed pants and another tugging at her hair to compare the color to its own. Oddly enough both verdant locks were of more than similar hues.

Tingle had it a little better when his size made him all the more huggable. The good feeling ended when the sprite found his quill and held it up high, savoring the light feel of the feather. Tingle tried to rise up in a balloon to reclaim his tool but the sprite buzzed its wings to beat Tingle's height, then descended and laughed at Tingles confusion.

Van, being the only man close to their shape, garnered particular interest. The sprites marveled at how similar he was to them and yet how different. They squeezed his arms and noticed that instead of a slender and smooth arm underneath there was a subtle texture of muscle and it interested them. It interested them a lot. They tried to pull off Van's jacket but that seemed to be the only thing that he would not have happen. He clamped his hands on the opposite sleeves as the sprites tried to pull his jacket off. They even tried flying to pull with more force but Van would not have it. He even managed to overlook the sprite trying to figure out why the front of his pants was different than Cremia's and Nesira's.

The final straw came when a sprite leaned its face toward Van's and rubbed its nose to his. He tried to tilt his head out of any way but found certain bliss in his current predicament. The sprite's nose slid down Van's and closed the space between them. At that point Cremia had had it. With a series of action more intuitive than anything else she found the strength to shrug the sprites off of her and reach for her bow in a single swift movement. With the simple letting go of the bow string her actions left her control.

The fast whizzing of the arrow followed by the dull thud into the arm of the sprite at Van's face were very out of place amongst the sprites who were only looking to play. The sprite reeled back and let out a juvenile screech. The screech, an expression of misery, seemed to be very out of place among the sprites. The wounded sprite fell back into the arms of her sisters and almost fainted. From there she simply cried.

The sprites sat in a tight huddle looking at the arrow-embedded arm with red blood slowly seeping out. It was akin to seeing a bunch of kids holding interest when one of them pricked a finger badly. The indications of mortality were terrible, yet a fascination was held. Usually parents would run by and grab their children away to take them away from the red blemish in a rose-colored world.

The six non-sprites in the room brushed themselves off and readjusted articles of clothing. They looked at the group of sprites, one of them sobbing bitterly.

Zenkit broke the relative silence, "You'd think none of them were ever _hurt_ before."

"You know what…" Van sighed with both pity and envy, "I don't think they have."

Tingle floated near Cremia's head. "It _was_ excessive, Miss. The arrow."

Cremia didn't need to look to Tingle to feel any worse. For a moment red-hot jealousy pushed her. The need for painful retribution snowballed higher and higher until there seemed to be no alternative except to make the sprite pay for unearthing these emotions. Was this what it was like to be consumed by a malicious intent? As a ranch owner, Cremia never experienced what it was like to be angry enough to want to hurt somebody else. Sure, the Gormans got on her nerves, but she opted to elude them both in town and when they tried to assault her carriage during deliveries.

How did Grasshopper do it? The though hit Cremia. Grasshopper has put himself before many a person who wanted to harm him or those he cared about, yet never did Grasshopper completely lose his temper or experience an irreversible lapse in judgment. Always he exercised utmost restraint and even tried to _help_ those who wanted to cause harm. His use of force was always to the absolute minimum that the situation merited. Was it due to her upbringing? Had she been so sheltered from such situations that she felt she had to imitate great fictional heroes and use violence to solve any given dilemma? How did Grasshopper do it?

It came to her in a flash. Grasshopper was not blameless. Nobody was. How, then, could Grasshopper, with only pure intentions, use black actions like violence and still feel that he lives virtuously? As if to answer her, Cremia remembered what she was in this huge tree for in the first place. Healing… redemption. Grasshopper uses violence and other acts of malice for a greater good. An action will always be good or bad, but intent can change. Cremia looked at the crying sprite and knew that what she did yielded nothing good. She hurt the sprite and for a selfish reason that didn't even make sense to her.

One may question how the hand that strokes a sword can also apply a bandage, but simply put a person who can only do one or the other is two dimensional and too simplistic to truly know what it is to live. Those who truly fight to stop evil forces and succeed do not do so only by using what is considered good, but they must derive from the darker side if they wish to harm it. Unbiased by society views, these truths were not a great revelation but just natural to Grasshopper. Was it possible that a _lack_ of upbringing to be an upstanding citizen has made him a greater person than any properly raised man?

Cremia did not know if she could atone for what she did, but any attempt will yield better success than no attempt at all. She reached for her medical kit at her waist. "I want to help her." After seeing the sprite cry pathetically for so long, there were no objections. Cremia tried to cross over to the wounded sprite, but the other sprites saw her approach and acted. They stood in front of the wounded sprite and stared at Cremia tensely. Cremia stopped. Every stare was another accusation stabbed into her heart. "I want to help out!!" Cremia insisted. The sprites were unmoving. They truly had it stuck in their minds that Cremia only presented hostility.

A growl came from behind Cremia. "Didn't you pixies or whatever you are _hear_ her?! She wanted to _help!_ Move!" Nesira stomped forth in front of Cremia and pulled the sprites aside, breaking their line. The Gerudo then pushed the sprites away until nothing stood between Cremia and the wounded sprite, still feeling her arm with disbelief and crying.

There it was again. If not for Nesira, Cremia would not have passed the wall of sprites. How dumb. Cremia wanted to do something bad with bad intentions and she succeeded spectacularly. Then she wanted to do something good with good intentions and she failed miserably. Nesira did something bad with good intentions and at least got the job done. Why is it that the low path is so easy yet taking the high road was such a dent in the ego, becoming relatively the least wise of the two options? All that thinking was killing Cremia. When thoughts turn from facts to faith, everything starts to get confusing. She decided to just do what was in front of her: Help the sprite she hurt. No wondering about the implications, just do it.

Cremia kneeled down to the sprite who was sitting with her legs hugged close and her face buried in them. The sprite noticed the new shadow over her and looked. The sprite looked up to Cremia with red eyes and saw what she only perceived to be her attacker. She gasped deeply and tried to nudge herself away. "No! Please…" Cremia pleaded, but quickly asked herself if she had been listening to _any_ of what her mind just went through. Just like does so to Romani with a scraped knee, Cremia reached out and grabbed the Sprite's wounded arm. The sprite emitted a few whining yelp and tried to pull her arm away. Either Cremia's grip was that good or the sprite was that weak, but she only tugged the arm and Cremia kept her ground. Eventually the sprite just stopped struggling and sat cross-legged, its eyes squeezed shut for some incoming pain.

A sigh escaped Cremia. Romani was easy to restrain since it was her sister, but Cremia had actually been the _cause_ of this one's misery. The sigh was both of relief that the sprite was cooperating and one of effort spent since grabbing the arm was enough. She pulled the arm closer until the embedded arrow was directly in front of her. It wasn't far into the arm at all. In fact, a good tug pulled the arrow out without threatening anything. The wounded sprite opened its eyes a little and noticed why there was no more uncomfortable metal in her arm. Cremia single-handedly rooted through her kit and produced a red potion. Apparently red potion worked both through digestion _and_ superficial application. Cremia dabbed the red liquid onto the arrow wound. The sprite involuntarily gave a swoon of pleasure at the healing touch.

The difficult part was over. Now all Cremia had to do was tie a bandage on and the sprite would be fine. At least by her standards. She slipped a bandage out of the kit and slid it down the sprite's slender arm. The sprite and her sisters, already having forgotten about the arrow shot and the pain, simply looked in fascination as Cremia tightened the bandage around the wound.

As soon as Cremia let go of the sprite she lifted herself off the ground. She floated toward her sisters and held out her arm. Apparently they haven't seen anything for wearing other than leaf-based garments. The bandage was both a healing tool and an accessory. The bandaged sprite moved her arm like a cucco wing both to wave out the soreness and to show her bandage off.

As soon as they came, the sprites decided that play time was over and began to flock out of the hallowed space. The bandaged sprite decided to hang around. She fluttered over to Cremia. In an act of affection and gratitude, the sprite kissed Cremia on the cheek before following her sisters out. Not knowing how she ought to react, Cremia's cheeks tinted red at the show. "You're… welcome." She muttered in a tiny voice.

-

There was a rather hollow feel to the room after the sprites left. They were so cheerful and childlike that it felt like a breath of fresh air just blew out the window. Shrugging off that feeling, and relentless comments from Nesira that Cremia would marry one of the sprites when she grew up, the purpose of the expedition rose up again and the group carried on.

In a much similar fashion to before the encounter, Zenkit took care in diving into the downward flow of the water. She swam against the current and directed the rest of the group up on the planks. Since the entire process and the penalty for a wrong turn have been covered, there is no point in relating it again.

This second tunnel lead up to a drawbridge that was actually down. This drawbridge lead into another room hollowed out at the very top of the tree's trunk. If there was any point in traveling all this way, it would be in that topmost room. Teeming with anticipation, the group hastened into the hole.

At this point the unexpected was to be expected, but of course nobody expected what was inside the topmost room. Like the previous hollowed out area, the walls were circular and smooth. The floor, however, like the top of a log, was covered in little samples of everything one would find in a forest ranging from leafy plants to moss to fungal growth.

At the far side of the room was what could only be described as a tree throne. On the tree throne sat a majestic woman. Her form was blameless and covered in a robe consisting of leaves. Even though her hair flowed in a dark green, her skin color, unlike the sprites from before, was the same as Cremia's or Van's. She looked upon the six new faces that entered the room with eyes that looked like the top of a tree when seen from above.

Behind her throne a familiar face tried to stay hidden.

Serf, not having done or said much since busting a gate down, took it upon himself to notice first. "Isn't that that Skull kid from before?"

"That's them!!" The Skull Kid cried out to the woman on the throne. "They're the ones trying to take all the purity out of this place!"

"Take the- WHAT!?" Nesira huffed. She looked to the woman up front, "Ma'am, may I have permission to be alone with that thing for five minutes?"

The woman looked from the skull kid. Her expression showed nothing negative. No intolerance, no patience, no ill will whatsoever. "Thank you." She said. She made a peaceful gesture accompanied by a little bow. "Thank you all for coming to visit us here. Myself, Flora. My children…" The sprites from before lingered out the exit watching, "And of course our dear Skull Kid."

Nesira scoffed. "A woman dressed in green holding domain over a large area of plants… named _Flora_. Saw _that_ coming from far away."

Flora tittered at Nesira's comment but walked over to Cremia. "Ah… you must be the one who healed my child."

Cremia looked out and saw one of the green arms wearing the bandage. She could just hear that screech of pain and betrayal again. "… But I was also the reason why she needed healing."

"Hmm, hmm…" Flora touched her fingertips together while she looked at Cremia try to avoid her gaze. "I am no fool. Blissful, yes, but not in a state of inebriation. I _know_ that owning up to something you have done wrong and making it better is difficult. Therefore, I hold you in high regard for your ability to do so."

"Oh… thank you."

Flora nodded. "In fact, it is amazing that any of you are here. This is a place of healing and rest for the weary. Any who tire from the endless maze of the surrounding woods may find solace here. Our first and only visitor thus far is the Skull Kid. He returns our love so much that he has devised a way to keep out people who wish to abuse our generosity or keep it for themselves."

Nesira still kept a sharp gaze on the Skull Kid. "More like keep it for _him_self…"

"The hedge maze, sir!" Tingle spoke up. "The hedges, and the drawbridges Within! The Skull sir, yes!"

Serf made a mouth noise, "Yeah, but how do you think he made those evil arm things?"

"Evil Arms?" The Skull Kid spoke up, "_What_ evil arms? There are no arms in my traps!"

"Don't kid us, you empty skull! I tossed a rock down every wrong way and shadowy arms reached out and grabbed it! You could give a kid _nightmares_ with something like that!" Nesira ought to know.

Flora seemed offset by the mention of the arms. "Shadowy… did you people close the gate after you when you went through it?"

The image of the gate soaring through the air from Serf's violent roll played in all six minds. "Eh… no." Van eventually answered.

Flora's face paled. "Oh," she uttered with her head hung, "oh… no…" She swiftly stood and leaned over the fountain in the middle of the hollowed room. The water surface's reflection did not show her face, but an image of the outside of the entrance into the grotto. What she saw immediately revealed the reason for her alarm.

A thick black wisp billowed through the space that the gate used to occupy. It followed through the holes Serf had punched through the hedge maze and continued to flow through the stone entrance. Flora looked up from the reflection. She hopped around the fountain and bee-lined for the exit of the room. When Flora was gone the group of six surrounded the fountain to see the dark spectacle for themselves.

"What _is_ it?" Zenkit inquired, never having seen anything so ominous reflected off water.

Any guess was drowned out by a loud whining shout of frustration. The Skull Kid clutched its head in a dismayed dance. "You… you idiots! _Rapists!!_ Don't you know what you have done?! That gate was magical! Blessed! It kept _it_ out! This, a place of such purity on one end begs the existence of another! What Miss Flora has not told you is that, a darkness, no, Darkness _itself_ has wanted to ruin this grotto ever since the goddess Farore grew it and incarnated a bit of herself in Flora!"

"Goddess… Farore?" Cremia echoed.

Van narrowed his eyes. Four of the group exchanged looks, not knowing what the last thing the Skull Kid meant, but Van and Nesira looked at the Skull Kid as if he spoke a little too much for his own good. "I'm sure it's some sort of grotto legend." Van quickly spoke.

"_What_? No! I'm talking about one of the three goddess-!"

"_Anyway_!!" Nesira cut in, "What about this Darkness you speak of?"

"D-do I need to say anything more?! Darkness normally stays dormant or infiltrates the minds of the weak to bring about ruin in every sense of the word, but it has taken the most physical form it can to _directly_ wipe this grotto which threatens it off the face of Termina!"

"Like _hell_ it will!" The Gerudo hit her fist into her palm. "I'll tear that concept a new one if it means making up for what Serf did!"

"_Me_!?" Serf demanded rhetorically. "Hey, hey, even if we got it open normally we still would have left it open! Don't pin this on me!"

"It doesn't _matter_!" Van growled, "The point is that this grotto is being assaulted and if there is any way to do anything about it, we should utilize it! Come on!"

At the call the group piled out the hole in the tree. Since there were no forks going down, it was a simple mad dash to the outside.

-

To look at the hedge maze now one would swear that there had been no hedge maze to begin with. Everything from the walls to the shriveled plant life was now flat and a sickly shade of tan. The death was confined to after the gate and before the entrance to the grotto, but it was still a sad sight to behold.

All over the place creatures wandered around chopping down hedges and other plants with blood soaked axes. Their bodies were a dark color and resembled a night but their heads were of pigs.

"Moblins!" Van gasped.

"_Whats_??" Zenkit demanded.

The response back startled Van. Nesira shot him a look that told him he was an idiot. Van replied without stalling, "I've only read about them. I guess they're real after all!"

At the center of the chaos Flora stood still. She only moved her arms. At her motioning a vine would constrict a Moblin and squeeze it until it burst into a black smoke or some other act of plant-based self defense. Most of the time, however, these attacks were backfired when a Moblin chopped the plan in two. Flora winced with an emotional pain every time it happened.

"This has to end! _Split up!_" Van shouted out. The group of six separated into their own plot of land to begin fighting off Moblins in. Van ran up to Flora who appeared to be in less than decent shape. "Are you okay?"

Flora gave a miserable moan. "They're so… malicious. They exist only to hurt. Why…?"

"I don't know. But those who only cause detriment cannot be allowed to do as they please. At some point the complaining and griping has to stop and the action has to start! We don't know if we can best them, but we will try."

"Thank you…" Flora sat down weakly.

Flora's sit revealed that a Moblin had been behind her and prepared to strike with its axe. Van's positioned pit him too far away to act in time. Fortunately an arrow whizzed from an angle and struck the Moblin, dissolving it in black smoke.

"Thanks!" He said and passed Flora's sentiment on to Cremia. When he turned to her, he noticed her reserved and stiff stance. "Cremia… are you okay?"

"Uh?" The ranch owner left her preoccupation. She had _trained_ herself to see battle. Prior to setting out, she imagined facing down opponents intent on killing her. As now proved, it all came out to little. The most action she'd seen was fighting her way through ReDeads a year ago. She had Tingle to thank for covering her, and she never actually had been the target of an assault during. Now, these were… _monsters_! Intelligent, armed to bear, and this was a free-for-all. There was nothing orderly, honorable, or just with what was going on. Cremia could _say_ that she was prepared, but now…

No! "I'm good!" She responded at last. Better late than never. Up until Grasshopper had arrived, the worst she had seen was the occasional Gorman attack on her milk. Compared to everything that's happened to her after that, she's become many times stronger. It's time that she put some of that to use and be strong for Grasshopper!

Content with Cremia's resolve, Van looked off and saw Serf bowl over a Moblin. The young Goron unfurled in time to turn around and see a Moblin appear right in front of him, which he abruptly drove his fist through. "I can see. These things are a pack… and a pack has a leader. If we could find a Moblin of stature, not unlike the leader of the aliens you told me about, we can end this."

As if on cue, a large line of darkness cut through the treetops and landed directly in front of Van. The line compacted and expanded to show the form of a Moblin that was twice the size of a regular one.

"Too soon!" Cremia gasped, her resolve taking a hit and recovering seamlessly. She backed away holding Flora along with her. Even if the large Moblin were a "normal" size, its different design made it fiercer looking. It held a red-soaked trident and wore a blood-colored cape.

"Can't be…" Van mused over the alleged leader, pale. Looking past whatever initial impression he had of the Moblin, he figured his first premonition had been incorrect. "No… it's just a larger Moblin." He noticed it shift forward. "It's targeting Flora!"

"Got 'er!" Came a quick voice. With a flash of brown and green, Nesira grabbed Flora and easily carried the woman out of harm's way.

Any sighs of relief were short lived. The large Moblin caught on to the situation. It knew that those immediately in front of him would bother him until he dealt with them. Thusly, the Moblin brandished its trident and stomped with its back foot, rooting itself in the spot.

"Stand your ground!!" Van called aside to Cremia.

Cremia noticed that Van had instructed her to join in the fight against the large Moblin instead of telling her to run and pick a smaller fight. He must be seeing something in the fight that Cremia could contribute. She relied on her fledgling but strong trust in Van and stood firmly next to him. This was it, iron nerves from here on.

The Moblin decided that the strongest-looking of his opponents ought to be his first target so he brought back his trident in a way that clearly targeted Van. Van stood ready with his sword even though his eyes flicked back and forth from the Moblin to Cremia. She got the cue. As fast as her training and observation allowed her, Cremia loaded up an arrow and let it fly in one smooth motion. The arrow came to a stop right between the Moblin's eyes. The Moblin snarled and swat the arrow off with only a drop or so of bleeding to mark the feat.

Van looked just as surprised as Cremia. It made sense that if one is struck between the eyes, they ought to be defeated or at least severely debilitated. None of these described the Moblin. In fact, the Moblin now had a more pressing bone to pick with _Cremia_. Without delay the Moblin switched targets and thrust at Cremia. Unfortunately for the Moblin, Cremia's slender build allowed for a simple step to the side to perfectly dodge between the pointed bars. She opened her squinted eyes to see the pointed edges in front and in back of her and more importantly not _in_ her.

Relief never lasted long when the Moblin decided that swatting Cremia with the trident was just as good as impaling her. With a sharp movement the Moblin shifted the trident over, carrying Cremia with it. Cremia left the confines of the trident and came to land uncomfortably a few feet away. Van shouted Cremia's name with concern but felt absolved when he saw her pick herself up with a little bit of fatigue shivering. Apparently the mulch remains of the hedge maze made for a softer landing.

The Moblin gaped with a morbid disappointment at Cremia's painful but not fatal landing. It gave Van the perfect opportunity to strike while the creature wasn't looking. He delivered a nonspecific slash into the Moblin's hide that cut through the cape to put a deep gash and spill plenty of oddly colored blood. At that point, the Moblin's enraged shout indicated that Cremia was no longer in his consideration.

She'd show _him_, though. She stood up tall, pulled an arrow from her quiver, and… questioned the futility. She already tried an arrow and it only provided a step back. It was a good idea when they thought she'd actually be of any use, but evidence proved otherwise. It was sweet of Van to try it in the first place…

Okay, _why_ was she thinking about that _now_!?

"Catch!" Came the call that brought Cremia back down as she raised her free hand to accept the passing off of an urn. The passer, Nesira, turned away to attend to other matters while calling back, "I dunno what it is, but Flora said you should have it!"

Cremia still stood and wondered what that was all about. She looked inside the urn to see it filled up with pristine water. Why would Flora give this to _her_? Urn in one hand, arrow still drawn in the other, Cremia decided to take a stab in the dark, or more specifically into the water. She turned the arrow point-down and dipped it into the water. She didn't expect anything grand like the arrow bursting with light energy. Unfortunately for that skepticism, that is exactly what happened. As the arrowhead sunk into the water, the metallic tip was stripped of every grain of dirt, every stain, even every smudge mark until it reflected light brilliantly to the point that it must have been producing some of that light itself. When withdrawn, the arrow shined with a light that was both pure and strong. Though Cremia could have marveled at the Light Arrow longer, she knew what it was for.

The lead Moblin had Van fighting defensively. _Now_ Cremia would show him. She hilted and drew back the arrow like any other. The glow in the arrow spread out and created an orb of light around the arrowhead. An amazing sight, but now was not the time to contemplate the 'why' and 'how' of the situation. The lead Moblin caught the light and knew what was coming. He turned and lumbered toward Cremia.

"Too little too late." The crimson-haired woman too low to be heard. A second later she let fate take the Light Arrow.

No truer an aim could have carried the arrow. It sailed on a perfectly linear path directly into the lead Moblin's face. This time, the arrow vanished into what could only be described as a burst of light. The arrow's victim roared with pain and fear at its loss of sight. Its free hand flew over its face while the hand holding the trident struck directly out.

This was the golden moment. Van paced toward the lead Moblin as it stood in its blind stupor. Though it could not see, the Moblin could hear and smell, and by that it found Van somewhere behind it. The monster pitched its trident into the whiteness behind it. With no confidence behind the strike, it was simple to dodge. Van easily saw the signs of how the lead Moblin would attack and dodged with no room left for error. The attack came out sour and the lead Moblin kneeled. Van saw the climax of the opportunity and placed his foot on the lead Moblin's knee. With a tremendous effort on that one leg, he heaved himself up and even above the lead Moblin's head. With what little sight it had, the lead Moblin looked up to see the spectacle. Van descended, both hands on the hilt, and drove his sword directly into the lead Moblin's forehead.

The lead Moblin emitted some mouth noise when the sword fell, but the struggle was far over by that time. The swift blow echoed and stopped the fight where it was heard. Silence reigned as all head turned to see Van pull his sword out of the lead Moblin's. The trident fell and the lead Moblin's body evaporated into thin wisps until the entire body just degenerated into black smoke all at once.

Nobody knew what to expect at first, but they did not expect anything perfect like every Moblin to freak out and run away to happen. Unfortunately for that skepticism, that is exactly what happened. Cries of terror rose up from the Moblins and each of them ran and maybe dropped its weapon. All non-Moblins were astonished to see all of the massive number just up and leave. None more relieved than Van, who nearly fell forward if he hadn't been caught by Cremia. She too was tired, so she was just content keeping him from falling on his face while they both caught their breath.

As soon as the last Moblin had beat a panicked retreat through the entrance from the Magic Woods, the Skull kid appeared from behind a new gate and slammed it shut. How a new gate was found and how the Skull Kid was able to set it up during the fight was beyond everybody else.

-

"L-look at this!!" The Skull Kid demanded, holding its irate arms out to encompass the state of the grotto resulting from the darkness's invasion. "Marked – everywhere! Some things are withering. I swear, if I see any murkiness in the water… This is why I set all those security measures! So _this_ worst-case scenario wouldn't happen!"

Flora and the sprites were all audience to this berating. As far as Cremia, Van, Serf, Zenkit, and Tingle were concerned, they really had nothing to say in response. Lucky is the one who would ever see the likes of Nesira at a loss for words, though.

The half gerudo approached the Skull Kid with a swagger about her hips in a feminine fashion. One would imagine she would try to sweet-talk the Skull Kid into forgiving her and her group. Then one would remember just who it is that's being talked about. Her face ignited into an irate equaling the Skull Kid's. She grabbed the Skull Kid by the top of its head and lifted it up to her face level. "_Here's_ some news! Those alleged _security measures_ are what caused the darkness to get stopped up and gather in intensity! In fact, I think it's _good_ that we came here soon enough and Serf knocked down that gate!"

Serf heaved an exasperated sigh and Zenkit nervously laid a consoling webbed hand on his back.

"That is absolutely-!" The Skull kid began, but the second he stopped to consider opened his mind enough to let the whole truth in.

He remembered when he first entered the hallowed grotto and saw it for its beauty. When he bluntly pointed out some flaws in the tree's hide or a plant tinged a little brown, Flora had not minded at all, saying that that no haven is perfect. The Skull Kid, however, did not believe her. The grotto was the most beautiful place he had ever seen, and it proved that there was purity somewhere in the world. He wanted this purity preserved forever. Thus, he locked the gate instead of just having it closed, he designed the hedge maze that he convinced Flora was just for amusement, and he propped up the drawbridges connecting the areas in the grotto.

As the Skull Kid lived with Flora and the sprites, he began to notice the darkness brewing outside the gate. It tried to pass, but the lock held firm. At the same time, every blemish in the grotto had vanished and it remained a place of purity. This caused the sprites to become blissful to a fault. Flora, though astute, remained unaware. All she noticed was that the Skull Kid was the only visitor for a long time. The Skull Kid never drew parallels between his security and the billowing darkness. In fact, he felt that he had set the security up just in time to avoid an onslaught. All he had _really_ done was stop the flow of ill from entering the grotto. Instead of a few dry leaves and age rings, a whole army of evil creatures attacked! What would have happened if the darkness had been allowed to gather for longer? A thought worthy of a shudder, indeed.

The Skull Kid lowered his head and muttered, "Right…" which may or may not have also been intended to finish the sentence he had left hanging.

Where the Skull Kid had been glad Flora was there to see the exposure of villainous deeds, the set-up had now turned in on itself and now the Skull Kid himself had been exposed for what he had been doing. "Security measures, Skull Kid?" the serene woman inquired.

Time to bite the arrow. "Y-yeah! Flora, I love this place. I want to protect it! I know how to respect all the plants and water here, but I don't trust anybody else to do the same! I just _know_ other people will try to take advantage and cause harm to this place."

Without faltering or letting her mouth fall from an upward curve to either side, Flora quickly responded, "Much like you have?"

A stab to the heart for sure. Once more the Skull Kid was ejected from the here and now to look back and saw every action in a new light. Take advantage? Well, he's never seen the wood sprites play with anybody else before this day, and he was sure he was the only one born from outside the grotto to enjoy any of the food that grows there. Cause harm? He's already been down _that_ line of thinking before.

"I failed to keep selfish people from taking advantage of the grotto the very moment I vowed to protect it!"

"I'll say." Nesira muttered, preceding receiving Van's light fist to her gut from the side.

When Flora reached a hand out, the Skull Kid once again flinched against incoming punishment. Her hand landed on his head, but not to lift him like Nesira had. Instead she merely offered the touch affectionately. She still smiled.

"Do not feel like you are the first one to act as you did. Love can bring about great things as much as unintended harm. I _know_ you wanted what was best for the grotto, but it is not in the nature of living things to remain perfect forever. They hurt, and they heal. I never knew, though, that what waited for us when the gate opened would grow so far, so fast. You were so happy here; I did not want to incite conflict by asking you to remove that gate."

"No… no! Flora! Don't- you're not to blame at _all!_" cried the Skull Kid, clutching Flora's hand on top of his hat both desperately and trying to comfort.

"… Then it's good," Cremia cut into the moment, eyes cast down at all the wilted foliage and the new sprouts already emerging from the mulch, "it's good that we came, the six of us, so soon. Good for the grotto. I just wish it were for a different reason."

Flora pat the Skull Kid once more before lifting her hand off. "Reason?" she echoed, "Oh! Yes, I never had any opportunity to ask you why you came searching in these Woods of Mystery in the first place?"

"Woods of Mystery?" Serf couldn't help but repeat. At least with the surname 'Magical Woods', the music was magic. Now it was mysterious and he'd be thinking about it for days on end.

It was time for Van to be the leader again. He indicated he had something to say and said, "The reason we came in the first place is that we seek a certain mushroom that, when properly boiled and soaked into a cloth, allows that cloth to heal spiritual wounds."

No sooner than after he started did the familiarity of a green sprite appear from the entrance to the innermost areas of the grotto. She hovered in front of Van and joyfully tittered as she lifted her palms carrying a stereotypical mushroom, the head mostly red except for yellow spots.

Van didn't even have to look it over for long. "This… this is it!" He took the mushroom and held it carefully. "… But I gave such a vague description. How could you have known what I was talking about?"

Flora gave her smile again, this time more sagely than serene. "You were correct in assuming that the music in the Woods of Mystery was there to give all who enter a, ahem, 'fighting chance' of reaching the grotto. You see, the Woods of Mystery hear everything that is said and thought within them." She paused for a moment, which was just long enough to hear Zenkit squeak in embarrassment at the prospect of her thoughts being heard outside her own head. "They know why a person or group has entered. If a person whishes to seek a great power to take advantage of to the detriment of others, the Woods will kindly lead that person out. If he or she gets lost and requires hospitality and rest, the Woods will direct this person to the grotto where rest and nourishment are in abundance."

"Wait… wait… don't tell me." said Nesira and mimed Flora's dreamy demeanor. "'Thus, when you came and wanted to find something to help your friend, the Woods brought you here so that I can give it to you.' Am I close?"

A laugh at Nesira's charm and a nod were what comprised Flora's response, to which Nesira responded in turn, "Of course!"

A sigh at Nesira's charm and a bowed head were what comprised Van's response to Nesira's repeated boldness. "Show a little gratitude, will you? The most tolerable you've been all day is when you were mocking Flora."

Priorities were shuffled back into place when Cremia nudged forward and looked at the mushroom. "We can use this to help Grasshopper?"

"It would appear that your friend knows so, and knows how to do it." Flora looked aside as one does when a conversation has not ended but there is nothing to say for a little bit before finally saying, "So I take it you will be leaving to help this Grasshopper now? We, in the meantime, will finally re-open the grotto for all who come upon it to enjoy."

The Skull Kid was expected to whirl around and call Flora crazy, but instead he look up and aside to her. "Yeah… and if any of those guys gets out of line, I'll be the first to know!"

As compared to the Skull Kid locking up the grotto, the Skull Kid becoming a guard with tricks and traps instead of swords and shields was an improvement.

-

Late in the evening, inside the large pot-shaped potion shop perched before the Woods of Mystery, the keeper Kotake idly stirred a cauldron, almost entirely having forgotten what the swill inside exactly _was_. The bell on her door ringing snapped her back into reality. She popped off a typical "Oh!" and looked at who entered the door. "Oho! What a lovely couple of visitors! A very handsome young man and… why, you're the girl who own the ranch my sister and I order our milk from! To what do I owe this greatest of pleasures?"

Van only spared time for a standard bow of courtesy to a person well versed in a trade he was not well known in. After that, it was all business. "Good evening. I have obtained this Sacred Mushroom from the Woods of Mystery. I would like to create a Soul Patch using it."

"A Soul Patch, hmm?" said Kotake, "My-my… now what trouble have you gotten yourself into to want a Soul Patch? Such a thing takes a long time and many resources to create."

"A long time? It's for a man named Grasshopper, and he _needs_ it!" spoke up Cremia

"G-!" was all Kotake got out before the name struck a chord fiercely in her memory. "Grasshopper? Koume told me about a young man by that name who did her a great service. He may have received a favor back from her for saving her life, but she is _my_ sister, so _I_ owe this young man a favor for saving my sister! Give me that mushroom!"

Kotake's thin arms struck out and caught the mushroom. Van stepped back at the rapid action. He looked at her drag out a new cauldron of hot water and plop the mushroom in. This begged the question from Van, "Didn't you say that it would take a long time and many resources?"

The hag had already started working in the cauldron as she spoke bluntly. "Oh – hee hee! – I was trying to swindle you, boy!" This brought about a look of scorn from Cremia. "Oh, don't look like that. A pinch of a few of these powders and all it takes is a short time for the mushroom's essence to be simmered into the water. Dunk in any old bandage, and you have yourself a Soul Patch! Yes, that's all!"

Cremia was elated to hear such words, but Van crossed his arms, making those last three words unwarranted for him. "Ah, just like I remember reading. I _thought_ you weren't being truthful when you said it would take a long time."

"Oho!" playfully scoffed Kotake as she continued to stir, "So, you know a thing or two about potions and mixtures?"

The water in the cauldron boiled on and the aroma of the mushroom permeated about the room. Van inhaled and exhaled, smelling the mixture at the same time. "I know about a wide variety of trades… but insofar as spirituality has to do with it."

At this point, visible wisps rose from the cauldron, which Kotake observed in how they reached up. "_Now_ you make sense. You are both people of faith, hmm?"

"M-me??" Cremia responded with a finger pointed up at her chin, "Oh… no! No." She turned her head and expected the same answer from Van.

Rather than opening with a 'no', Van said, "I don't know if 'of faith' would describe it… but I _have_ devoted my passions to understanding the ways of this world's greater realities… both in lore and in the concrete things that affect us directly."

This exposition intrigued Cremia. Sure, she trusted Van and got a feel for how he treats others, but he never let the opportunity to talk about himself in-depth pop up. It never really occurred to her after being around Grasshopper, who literally _couldn't_ talk about himself in-depth at first.

Kotake cackled, "Now _that_ is something I don't hear every day. I don't meet many Terminians who aren't satisfied just tending to their gardens." She leaned her head into the now-billowing mist and sniffed in deep. "Aha! The mixture is right! Right now, this potion is coexisting as a force that alters both the physical and the spiritual plane. Do you have anything you'd prefer to use as a Soul Patch?" The other two exchanged a mutual look of having no preference. Cremia offered up a bandage from the medical pack she carried. "This will well do." Kotake commented with some crooked nods. As one does when washing a garment, Kotake pushed the bandage into the cauldron's mixture.

Apparently, this part of the process required some more concentration, as Kotake expressed an acute concentration for the first time. This left the shop in silence.

"S… so…!" said Cremia suddenly, when the silence was unbearable, "Van… you're religious? It's true that there isn't a whole lot of that in Termina, aside from the legend of the four guardians… which turned out to be true! What is faith like where you're from?"

Van rotated his head toward Cremia, "Ha… isn't that one of those topics you're just not supposed to spring on somebody all of a sudden?"

Cremia inwardly took a step back at the comment. Was this what Van was like in his element? His words were more antagonistic than his demeanor, which assured her that any actual antagonism was in jest. The hard look softened to show this to be true.

"I won't bore you with any of the details, but where I'm from… there's one major faith, and it's just regarded as the way things came about. It's much like things here, apparently. The people are happy enough that dissent rarely rises, and proving greater realities like the Spiritual Plane, the Dark World, and the Twilight Realm are more emphasized. Just for the record, almost all of it is speculation except for the Spiritual Plane which has long since been uncovered by the discovery of the Lens of Truth. Otherwise, only aficionados pursue these things and everybody else…" Van quickly looked to Kotake, "what was it you said? 'Tends to their gardens'?"

"Mm-hmm!" confirmed Kotake, "And no sooner for you to interrupt me, for we now have in our presence a genuine Soul Patch!"

Without a word beforehand, Van sifted through a pocket and pulled out the pair of Lens of Truth glasses. He examined the bandage Kotake pulled out of the cauldron. "Yes," he confirmed, "we've got it!"

At the same time, Cremia felt the relief of success and a sinking in her stomach. The Soul Patch was now theirs and Grasshopper wasn't going to slip away completely, but the Soul Lantern was needed to actually see him up and about, talking and laughing again. Just what was this, some sort of collecting game where random items were worth lives? Cremia made sure that she kept the ultimate goal of reviving Grasshopper clear, and didn't short-sight herself to thinking just about patches, lanterns, medallions, gems, and whatnot.

Cremia had plenty of time to mull this around in her head during the walk from the Owl Statue on Milk road to her house on the Romani Ranch grounds, every invitation to join in on a conversation from the other five not affecting her.

-

It probably was too much to ask that the application of a spirit-saving bandage would be dynamic or flashy in any way. Directly over the other bandage, Van wrapped the Soul Patch around Grasshopper's wound. To the naked eye, it looked like overkill for bandaging, but through the Lens of Truth, the necessity was clear.

"Take a look," Van told the others, Romani among them who vaulted down the stairs and made a pre-emptive statement refusing to go back to bed. Cremia breathed a sigh when she saw nothing smoke-like coming from the wound. She had to explain why that was a good thing to the others who didn't see what Grasshopper had been like before.

"He looks so peaceful." Zenkit, of course, noticed, gently cupping the unmoving young man's cheek with the tips of the fingers on her webbed hand.

"He _should_," spoke Nesira, "after all he'd been through before that. Going through a misadventure every other day, if not every day, and then that whole _year_ where he couldn't relax, not once." The half-gerudo took no heed when Cremia looked up with moist eyes and began to pay attention, "At least when he got himself into heaps of trouble, he had a pretty girl to go back to and comfort the stresses of the day. During that year, he didn't even have that! I _said_ that I would be a good surrogate farm girl, but he said that didn't feel right. I wasn't Cr-"

"_SHUT UP!!!_"

Even Nesira's mouth was stilled by the shrill outburst. Cremia sat at the dinner table, hunched over as far as she could go with her palms crushing into her pointed ears. She then lifted her head up and stared at Nesira. It was a piercing, venomous stare. It was a stare that expressed the indiscriminate, prejudiced hatred that one could only feel toward him or herself but a mortal's outward emotions could only let show a fraction of it, which still could be the most horrible and unnecessary thing any person could ever experience. Her voice was deep and disturbingly direct.

"Nobody asked you. Nobody ever asks you. You just talk. Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to assume you know anything? You know nothing. You know… nothing. You're a fool. An ignorant fool. The next time you want to be so arrogant, so vain, so insecure that you have to be the voice of authority, _wait for a question._"

The silence that followed pressed against all in the room to unbearable degrees of gravity. Zenkit lifted her hand from Grasshopper's face. Serf's head twitched around, not knowing where to look. Tingle, perched on a chair's arm, looked down at his feet which stopped swinging. Nesira, sitting next to Grasshopper's head, wore an expression of exposure and helplessness, eyes wide and with none of the sharpness they normally wore. Romani, the most wretched in the room, clutched the thigh of Zenkit, who was closest. Van, the closest to Cremia's position, did not change in expression. He wore the same neutral face with his azure eyes fixed on Cremia.

Cremia herself looked ill. As if she had vomited a poison, her face flushed and she became more fatigued than she had ever been before. She looked around at all the faces of the people who had witnessed her at this most weak of moments. She caught the expressions for brief moments before every one avoided her gaze. She didn't even try to look at Van. Instead she ended her survey of the room with Nesira, who held herself and cast her face as low as possible, looking more vulnerable than any person should. Cremia's eyes pleaded with someone, anyone, to hear out an apology, but fell on deaf faces. Alone in her remorse, Cremia heaved a sob into her hand once, then stood up and dashed up the stairs.

Everybody could feel the tension lift at a crawl, but it was Romani who acted first. Inhibition was nothing as the little girl, a few years past a decade old, dropped her hands to her side, tossed her head back and bawled out loud. Unlike Cremia's burst, almost everybody moved to gather around Romani to console her. Zenkit kneeled down and quickly and firmly threw her arms around Romani's neck and rocked her, repeatedly but softly calling for her to calm down. Tingle bounded over to offer a few words. Serf happened to notice that Nesira was also in a state and decided to try and put his big hands on her shoulders to try and shake her out of it. Between Romani's crying, Zenkit's cooing pleas, Tingle's attempts at humor, and Serf trying to get through to Nesira, the scene was chaotic and desperate. All the while, Grasshopper remained still, in the center of it all.

Meanwhile, Van still had not changed in demeanor at all. He sat with an elbow on the table and his chin perched on the attached palm, having watched the entire scene unfold. With no end in sight to Romani's hysteria and no sign of life from Nesira, Van stood. He walked past the madness and rounded about to the stairs. As he climbed, the noise and what it stood for seemed to fade and muffle through the wooden planks of the second floor's single hall. A new crying replaced Romani's, a much softer and more suffering crying. Van walked at a completely casual pace until he stood outside the door frame to Cremia's room. The door had been tossed open and Cremia kneeled before her bed, soaking the sheets with her tears.

Van's entry into the room was entirely unheeded. He walked forward a few paces, but Cremia still did not change. Van turned toward the bed, kneeled himself, and placed his chin on the bed and his hands folded in front of his face. He closed his eyes and held his position.

Cremia's crying slowed to occasional gasps, sniffs, and heavy exhales. She gulped once more and leaned back, supporting a straight spine on her knees. She licked the dryness off her lips and turned her head toward Van. He remained in his devout posture.

"If I had known…" groaned Cremia. She spoke slowly and hardly said two words in normal succession, "If I had known what I was doing to him… If I knew I made him feel that way… I would have stopped. I really would have. I would have looked at him with whimsy and lust again. I would have doted and worried. If I knew what was going to happen… I would have… I'd have _appreciated_ him more."

Van gently parted his hands and leaned back as Cremia had. He faced his entire body, still kneeling, toward Cremia.

"But you know what? I'll bet… I know that he wasn't aware of it. If he knew that the way I treated him after what he'd done was making him feel uneasy… uncomfortable… stressed… He would have said so. He's honest like that. He knows how to be who he is. And I… I… I kept on making him feel horrible. Every day he comes back, hurt, tired, and mentally drained… and I was always there to hear him out… to be a friend… to see him through those stressful times. It's not him… _everybody_ needs something like that. He… he _depended_ on me. And I… I…"

Unable to properly express the next thought, she opted to shout, very loudly, the most profane word that a Terminian considered unsuitable for formal conversation.

"And yet… on that day… he risked his life to save me. As if I'd done nothing to him over that year! As if I hadn't gone to try and replace him or give up on the ranch, as if it were one year back and I hadn't locked him out of my heart… he stepped up when I was in danger. And I… There's so many awful things I could be forced to do to make up for it, but I have the _gall_ to think that finding two damn items is that big of a deal!?" Cremia looked at Van finally, "You must think I'm horrible… don't you? You must have known… Everybody in Clock Town must have known… Just go ahead… go ahead and solve it. Pull out a parable or a saying that condemns what I've done. Kind words are more than, if not the opposite of, what I deserve."

Still, Van's eyes remained unfazed. Cremia found that those blue orbs contained a serenity that matched that of a clear lake's surface. It was an incomprehensible calm that affected the disorder of Cremia's own eyes. Without a word, Van leaned forward and stretched his arms out. Finally, Cremia thought, retribution. She envisioned being strangled, throttled, manhandled violently… but the action was already dealt. Van's arms circled around Cremia's neck and overlapped past her back. He pulled her in an embrace that pressed her chest to his, but nothing came to mind but the contrast of her rapid heart rate and his. Van's arms tightened to a secure hold and he spoke.

"A whole year of tension comes out at once."

Of all things that could have resulted from Van coming in to talk to her, Cremia's bewildered expression told that she could not have expected this. Her arms remained at her sides and her eyes narrowed as new tears, different from before, surfaced and streamed down her face. She thrust her face into Van's chest and screamed into the fabric of his shirt before easing into a moderately audible crying.

-

What happened after Van had come to see her and before she settled into bed was somewhat of a blur for Cremia. She could remember seeing the stairs as she stepped down them slowly, then a bunch of faces look at her. They had all looked away, but now they looked toward her and with attempts at empathy. She then remembered Romani running toward her and then pounding her little fists against her midsection, calling her all sorts of terrible names that no younger sister would call an older sister in earnest. The names faded, and Romani sobbed once more as she had hugged Cremia around the waist. Instinct told Cremia to place her hands on Romani's shoulders and hold her head close.

The only words that stuck in Cremia's memory were those spoken by Nesira who looked at Cremia with soft, red eyes that matched her own.

"I have to admit, lady, you're deeper than the farm folk down home. I've been wrong about you."

The only visual that was absolutely clear in Cremia's memory of that short time was when most of the people had left and she took a long look at Grasshopper laid out. His comfortable position, his serene expression, and the Soul Patch that she'd gone out of her way to secure his life. If not for love, if not for redemption, she'd continue on to get the Soul Lantern just for the sake of Grasshopper's livelihood.

From there, the blurs became even more obscured until they slowed to a halt and Cremia achieved a peaceful mind shortly before sleep took her away again. No more second-guessing. No more inner demons. Her objective has never been clearer and for that brief moment, she relished in the fact that, at that moment, all that was required of her was to sleep.

The took its place behind the mountains and left no light to stir Cremia from her sleep, and neither Romani nor Van, who took his place sleeping upright, facing Grasshopper. It also faded from Tingle's maps, which he couldn't work on now anyway since tears would smudge the ink. The light also faded from those mountains up north, where Serf curled up and his snoring joined the chorus of the rest of the Goron Village. The soothing cool darkness even reached Cape Zora, where Rist and Tan, fresh off a midnight game of Fin, poked fun at Zenkit for crying like a girl, and she made sure to punch both of them in the mouth before returning to her room. Of course, day's last rays lifted from the Stock Pot Inn which was good for Nesira who hadn't been up until the wee hours of the morning pacing around with nothing to do.

It was time to rest in the lulling, soft security of the darkness. The time to shine, blaze, act, and be known and heard had passed. There would be plenty of time for that when the run returned the next morning.

-

[Author's note: Let me well establish the following things… 1) It _has_ been a long time since I have updated. 2) I _should_ update again, much sooner, and perhaps start updating at an actual rate now. 3) There _are_ a good amount of people who want to see this story continued. The purpose of this is to say this here so you don't have to dedicate most or all of your review telling me something we all already know. Other than that, it's great to have a new chapter up at last and to see many familiar screen names again!


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